A SOUTHAMPTON woman answered a knock on her front door late at night and was confronted by a hooded man pointing a gun at her head and telling her: "I know what you have been doing."

Terrified Kay Moss shut the door on him and then crawled to her back door, which she locked. Then, looking out of the window, she saw and heard the man knocking on the door, telling her to let him in.

Prosecutor Angus Robertson told Winchester Crown Court that she called the police and the man, Steven Paddock, was seen running down the road.

A police dog, which had been brought to the scene, seized him.

Paddock, who had been drinking, told them: “I didn’t do anything wrong, I’m afraid of dogs.”

Mr Robertson said that the weapon, a BB gun, was recovered. Ten gas-powered pellets were found on Paddock but a gun expert considered that they were very ineffective and he was unsure whether the gun could have fired them.

The court heard that earlier that day Paddock had accused a group, including the victim’s teenage daughter, some of whom he knew, of stealing his mobile phone after he had gone into a shop and bought cigarettes for one of them.

In an impact statement her mother said that the drama had left her insecure. She was frightened when she heard a noise, even when her children were in bed, that someone was in the house and she was paranoid that Paddock would come back.

Her daughter told police that she was scared to go to the shops and when there was a knock on the door, her heart stopped because she feared that it was Paddock.

Paddock, 25, of Roundhill Close, Southampton, admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and was jailed for 15 months for what Judge Keith Cutler described as “a truly frightening and appalling incident”.

He told Paddock: “You were full of anger, full of violence and affected by alcohol. It was an appalling situation which this lady found herself in.”

In mitigation Richard Tutt said that Paddock was sorry for his foolish actions, which represented an extreme escalation of his previous offending.

He said: “He had no idea of the seriousness of what he did. It was an imitation firearm and not loaded. There is no evidence that it was capable of firing the pellets.”

Drinking had been the root of his offending and he had lost his job just before, he said, adding: “He has not been in trouble since the incident and has settled down with a new partner. He has also stopped drinking.”