Sheffield drug dealer found with fake gun in Wetherspoons pub beer garden in Wombwell, Barnsley

Police were called to The Horseshoe pub on High Street, Wombwell, Barnsley, Sheffield Crown Court heard today, Tuesday, May 9. A police officer saw a man pick up a black holdall and take out what appeared to be a black handgun before replacing it in the bag, prosecutor Amy Earnshaw told the court.

Silviu Zainea, aged 35, of Busk Meadows, Shirecliffe, Sheffield, was arrested. When the bag was searched, an imitation starter pistol and cannabis with an estimated street value of £800 was found.

His phone was also seized and messages were found which were 'indicative' of his involvement in the supply of drugs, Mrs Earnshaw said.

They included one message which read: “I've got an ounce of Stardog." Stardog is a slang term for a form of cannabis.

When Zainea was questioned by police following the incident on the afternoon of August 25, 2019, Mrs Earnshaw said, he told them he had just found the bag with the fake firearm and drugs inside.

Zainea pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply a class B drug and to having an imitation firearm in a public place.

Sentencing him to nine months imprisonment, Judge Graham Reeds KC said Zainea had been a 'reasonably low level street dealer of cannabis' and although the firearm had been an imitation one it 'to all intents and purposes had the appearance of a real firearm'.