Walsall car hire manager jailed after buying Audi with hidden Taser

Daoud Musa did not realise there was a Taser disguised as a torch among tools sold with the vehicle – and could have ended up behind bars for much longer.

But a judge ruled there were exceptional circumstances which allowed him to reduce the five-year minimum jail term set for the offence.

The 28 year old drove into trouble while tracing a hire car that had been dumped in the Black Country.

He missed a turning and collided with an HGV as he ‘spun round’ on the forecourt of a car wash in Moxley Road, Darlaston, on May 27, 2016, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

There was a confrontation that resulted in an emergency call to police in which it was claimed the defendant was armed with a knife.

Officers rushed to the scene and found the Taser while searching the Audi for the non-existent blade.

Musa maintained he thought it was a torch and had used it as such but Mr Tim Sapwell, prosecuting insisted: “You knew it was a stun gun.”

The defendant argued: “A police officer searched me for a knife and found none.

"I genuinely thought I had done nothing wrong and told him to search my car as well. I would not have said that if I knew there was a stun gun in the vehicle.”

Mr Oliver Woolhouse, defending, added: “This had been a spontaneous incident and he remained at the scene until the police arrived.

"While his mind may have been on other things he made no effort to dispose of the stun gun before they arrived.

"Possession of the item is the offence and it would not have been a defence to say somebody else had given it to him.”

Musa from Thames Road, Blakenall, Walsall, pleaded guilty to possession of a disguised firearm in the middle of his trial on the basis that he did not know it was a stun gun.

This was not accepted by the prosecution and Judge Dean Kershaw was asked to decide the matter.

He ruled: “It may well have been within the Audi when he purchased it. But there came a time when he examined the item very closely and knew it was more than a torch. I cannot say when but he knew it was a stun gun.”

Ironically the weapon had a fault and would not have worked, confirmed the judge who continued: "You were at the scene lawfully and did not have a criminal intention but even an item such as this is very dangerous.

"It has no purpose other than to hurt people.You knew you should not have had it and deterrent sentences are vital."