An internet prankster who pretended to stage an armed robbery with a selfie stick has been handed a suspended prison sentence.

Balaclava-clad Lee Marshall pointed the stick at friends and told them to raise their arms when an off-duty Met Police firearms expert drove past and attempted to arrest him.

Footage given to KentOnline shows 30-year-old Marshall – better known as Discoboy – running around to laughter while the officer gives chase.

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Marshall, from Sturry, was arrested and later posted a tirade of foul language on Facebook in which he accused the officer of over-blowing the seriousness of the incident and demanding that he be publicly "named and shamed".

He was charged, and on Friday found himself before Medway magistrates. The court was told that in October Marshall had been seen near Gravesend railway station.

He was wearing a balaclava and holding a selfie stick, which he pointed like a gun at two friends.

VIDEO: Marshall being chased by the police officer

Speaking this week, he said that a car stopped and he and his friends tried to explain they were messing about.

He said: "It was a joke. It was me and my mates mucking around. We went up and told him we were joking about. I think he thought the selfie stick was a gun."

One of Marshall’s friends filmed the officer trying to arrest him. Marshall breaks free of the officer’s grip and runs around, telling him he is helping him with his "cardio training". He was eventually arrested and admits that he later posted the Facebook rant.

Marshall said: "I did it because I thought he’d overreacted. I said he should be named and shamed and exposed because of the way he behaved. I took it down after two days."

Marshall was convicted of sending an offensive or menacing message by public communication, resisting a police officer and two public order offences.

Magistrates gave him a 42-day prison sentence, suspended for one year, with £200 costs and an £80 surcharge. It was the second time Marshall had found himself in court in the space of a month.

In March he received a conditional discharge for slapping another internet prankster, Jack Jones, with a slice of pizza outside Canterbury West railway station.

He said: "I just feel like I’ve been really unlucky. I’m not a bad bloke and I’d been out of trouble for 10 years.

"I used to be a bit naughty and that’s what has earned me my reputation, but now I’m worried that I won’t be able to do stuff like that any more if the police are just going to react like this."