A drug addict took a crossbow onto a Birkenhead street to confront armed gangs of youths, a court has heard.

But they had already fled by the time Gareth Lambert appeared with the weapon and instead he ended up pointing the potentially lethal weapon at three innocent women.

The women all feared for their lives and thought the crossbow was a laser-sighted gun.

Sentencing 30-year-old Lambert, Judge Neil Flewitt, QC, said that the women were clearly “terrified”.

Lambert, of Oriel Road, Birkenhead, pleaded guilty to affray on the basis that he was frustrated by youths making threats outside his home and took the weapon outside unloaded to scare them away.

Henry Riding, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that when a neighbour saw the weapon she was “scared petrified.”

She heard a man shout “Come on then, stay there” at around 9pm on February 16, last year.

She recognised the man as "Gaz", who she described as a drug-user and “aggressive beggar.”

She saw him point the weapon in her direction, and she shouted “Gaz it’s me,” until he came over and said sorry.

He barked “Where the **** are they?” as two other women approached from Tudor Road.

The neighbour warned them to stay away, but the defendant spun round and pointed the crossbow at them.

The three ran off, with the neigjhbour shouting “he’s got a gun, he’s got a gun.” 

She hid behind a car as she called police.

Armed officers arrived and arrested Lambert, who appeared to be on drugs.

They searched his property and found the crossbow in his bedroom and a bolt on his stairs.

Defence barrister Tom Watson said Lambert, who has previous convictions, wished to apologise to his victims.

He had been “at his wits’ end” with the gangs and “did not stop to think.”

“This was not a laser-sighted item – the sight on it has a sort of pinkish look to it on the glass,” he added.

He said Lambert has serious health problems and has been coming to terms with the death of his younger brother.

Judge Flewitt sentenced Lambert to 12 months' imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered him to attend a rehabilitation course.

He told him, “If you don’t change your lifestyle, then in addition to committing further offences no doubt to fund your drug addiction, which will bring you back before the court, you’re going to put your own life at risk.”