A SHOPPER brandished and loaded an imitation firearm in a supermarket car park, Southampton Crown Court heard.

The alarm was raised after a CCTV operator at Tesco in Bursledon became suspicious of Kelvin Andrews and trained a camera in and outside the premises.

Prosecutor Chris Stopa said the 20-year-old took out a BB gun from the waistband of his trousers in the car park, pointed it around and then loaded it with pellets.

The operator called the police and Andrews was arrested nearby with the firearm and a silencer which he had in his pocket.

Nobody appeared to have seen Andrews with the gun, and in interview he told the police he had intended to use it in woods at Royal Victoria Country Park.

“He admitted he had done it in a moment of madness and had not intended to alarm anyone,” said Mr Stopa.

“He knew he should have waited until he had got to the woods and had not been thinking.”

Andrews, of Warburton Road, Southampton, admitted possessing an imitation firearm which put him in breach of an 18-month suspended sentence imposed at the same court for possessing cannabis and attempted robbery.

He was further bailed until November 3 for reports.