A father-of-two wept with relief when a judge ruled that a pistol seized from under the seat of an uninsured car in Bradford was not a lethal weapon which would attract a five year jail sentence.

Daniel Loukota faced the lengthy stretch behind bars if the imitation gun discovered by the police on July 26 last year had been ruled to be a prohibited fireman.

Instead, Loukota, 43, of Heaton Park Drive, Heaton, Bradford, was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, after admitting two offences of possession of an imitation firearm in a public place.

Loukota, a Czech national who came to the UK in 2008, was arrested after a car he had been using was impounded because it was uninsured. His name was given to the police following the discovery of two pistols under the seat. Loukota told officers he bought them at a car boot sale.

Prosecutor Stephen Wood told Bradford Crown Court yesterday that the smaller BB gun was not a prohibited weapon. But the larger firearm, a 9mm blank calibre semi-automatic blank firing pistol, was considered by the Crown’s expert to fall foul of the legislation.

David McGonigal, Loukota’s barrister, said it was a signalling apparatus.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC ruled that the firearm was not a prohibited weapon. He accepted that Loukota had no criminal intent with either of the weapons.