Lancashire man jailed after brandishing imitation gun during 'Wild West' brawl faces new charge

A man who was jailed after brandishing an imitation gun during a street brawl has appeared before a judge in Preston on a new charge.

Roofer Adrian Preston, who was one of a group of men arrested after a clash between two armed gangs on a quiet residential street in broad daylight, admitted stealing roofing lead while he was on bail for the firearms offence.

Appearing by video link from Lancaster Farms Prison, Preston was given a two-month jail term to run concurrently to the sentence he is already serving.

Recorder Peter Atherton was told the theft offence came about after Preston and another man were sacked from a roofing job in Haslingden Road, Blackburn.

The man who owned the house being converted into bedsits had not been happy with their work and had brought in another firm to complete it.

Get the latest headlines, straight to your inbox, with The LEP’s free emails Unhappy he had not been paid for materials he had provided for the job, Preston was caught on CCTV entering the kitchen of the property and taking a roll of lead worth almost £150.

The court was told the offence was committed during a long period while he and other men were awaiting a court appearance for what was described as a “violent confrontation” between two groups in a Blackburn street.

Preston, 40, was subsequently jailed for two years and three months at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to possessing an imitation handgun and affray.

Two others were sent to prison and two more were given suspended sentences.

A sixth man died from unrelated circumstances before the matter could come to court.

At that hearing Judge Simon Medland told them: “It is not out of the way to describe what occurred as being comparable to scenes from the Wild West.”

At the latest hearing Preston’s barrister David Morton said the roofing job had to be halted because of snow.

The job had become more involved than it had initially been priced at and when Preston arrived back at the property after the bad weather there was a new firm on the roof “and he was no longer welcome.”

He had already used two other rolls of lead on the job and was “significantly out of pocket.”

Preston had not been paid for a week’s work and had also used his own materials which had not been reimbursed.

Recorder Atherton told Preston, of Raven Road, Blackburn: “I recognise it was not an entirely straight forward situation that you faced. (But) there is clearly no excuse for you to do this.

“The offence is aggravated (because) it was committed while on bail for another matter.”