A MAN pointed a gun at armed police and threatened to shoot them while drinking from a can of Stella Artois lager.

Firearms officers were sent to Ebbw Vale after receiving reports Daniel Fisher was brandishing the weapon in the town centre on a busy Saturday evening.

He’d downed four pints of Stella at the Wetherspoons pub before going home to get a “very realistic” imitation gun and carrying on drinking the strong lager from a can.

Steven Donoghue, prosecuting, played dramatic police bodycam footage of what unfolded when half a dozen firearms officers were deployed to arrest him.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that they had no idea if the weapon was real or not.

The officers urged the 38-year-old to drop the gun before Fisher hid behind a tree and pointed it at PC Rebecca Evans and a colleague.

He started shouting: “I’m going to shoot you.”

Mr Donoghue said: “The officers were confronted by the defendant holding a can of Stella in his left hand and a gun in his right hand.

“He told them he would shoot them. He said he would kill them or he would be killed.

“The defendant said he wanted to be sent to prison for life.

“He said he hoped the firearms officers would shoot him and kill him.”

The armed police moved slowly towards Fisher behind a shield before he was shot in the hip with a plastic bullet.

He was then Tasered while he was on the ground and handcuffed behind his back.

Following his arrest Fisher told the police he had bought the gun in a shop in Merthyr Tydfil “a long time ago.”

It was a “gas cannister-type BB gun” that he said he got to shoot rats with.

The weapon was not loaded during the showdown.

Fisher is from Burnley and had moved to Wales to “make a fresh start”.

The defendant, of Harcourt Street, Ebbw Vale pleaded guilty to possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence on September 23 at around 6.30pm.

He has a long criminal record and has been in and out of prison for much of his life for a catalogue of serious offences.

They include aggravated burglary, causing grievous bodily harm, supplying heroin, possession of a samurai sword in public and affray.

Ben Waters representing Fisher said: “The defendant endured a traumatic childhood and was brought up in the care system.

“This was a drastic cry for help. His demons have been with him for quite some time.”

The Recorder of Cardiff Judge Tracey Lloyd Clarke told Fisher: “This was an extremely serious offence.

“You threatened to shoot police officers.

“It is an offence that is also aggravated by the fact that you were under the influence of alcohol at the time.”

He was jailed for 20 months.