Man jailed over city pub shooting

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7924474.stm

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A man who fired a gun into a Belfast bar after being refused admittance has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Patrick Joseph McMahon, 30, admitted threatening to kill a doorman and possessing a handgun with intent.

An attempted murder charge against McMahon, from Glenview Street in Belfast, was not proceeded with.

Belfast Crown Court judge Mr Justice McLaughlin said the attack at Fibber Magee's bar on 11 May, 2007 had been "grossly dangerous behaviour".

The judge described the attack as a "completely premeditated act".

"You are almost at the top of the ladder because this gun was fired not into the air, but through the window of a public house to a place where people were probably cowering when they saw what was happening," he said.

McMahon also pleaded guilty to having four shotgun cartridges without a certificate after they were uncovered in his house during follow-up searches.

Prosecution said the incident started after McMahon was refused entry back into the bar when he urinated in the street.

He was allowed back in to retrieve his coat, but then refused to leave. After being persuaded to go he tried to get in again and when refused threatened a doorman.

At about 0100 GMT a masked gunman got out of a car and started firing at the pub.

All three shots went through the lower half of the glass doors and no-one was injured. The lawyer said that from forensic reports it was clear the gunman had fired downwards.

McMahon was arrested the next day but during police interviews, refused to answer any questions.

In labelling the attack a "moment of madness," defence said the father-of-four said that after leaving the bar, he had gone to a party where he had got the gun but was so drunk, he could not remember what he had done with it afterwards.

Jailing McMahon after he agreed to spend a further 18 months on probation to tackle his alcohol problems, Mr Justice McLaughlin told him his behaviour before the attack had been "grossly offensive and disgusting" and from there had "descended into serious criminality".