A man brandished a BB gun along a seafront and started shouting that he would shoot someone.

Armed police were called to the scene after an alarmed member of the public saw Kaine Morley enter a bar in Harbour Parade, Ramsgate, with the weapon.

But when he appeared in court, the 24-year-old blamed his actions on his “horrendously violent” father, who had threatened him with the gun earlier that evening.

Morley, of Folkestone Road, Dover, also had a knife on him when detained and searched by officers. He was arrested and later charged with two offences.

He admitted possessing a firearm in public and possessing a bladed article in public when he first appeared in court in June.

The cases were adjourned so a pre-sentencing report could be carried out on him and he returned to Margate Magistrates Court on July 2, to hear his fate.

The bench heard this was not the first time he had been found in public with a knife.

Describing the events of May 27, Liz Evans, prosecuting, said: “A witness dialled 999 to say they had seen someone with a gun shouting he was going to shoot someone.

“CCTV operators located him and saw him pass the gun to someone else and then take it back and then they walked to the bar.

“A firearms officer located him and found the gun and the knife.

“The knife was glued into its sheath and the gun was not loaded and there was no magazine [in it].”

The court heard Morley has 14 convictions and his last, in February 2023, saw him get a suspended sentence, which he had now breached. The prosecutor said he is a second-strike blade offender and the guidelines say that incurs at least a six-month jail sentence.

The magistrates, who had read Morley’s pre-sentencing report, expressed their concerns over his assessment as a medium risk to the public. They felt the fact he had been found with a knife for a second time, was disturbing.

However, Jack Stewart, mitigating told the court his client had only taken the gun on the streets because his father threatened him with it earlier that evening.

He said: “The background is he’s had a very difficult traumatic childhood. It was abuse. His father would beat him.”

Mr Stewart added: “He has a horrendously violent father and his father threatened him with the imitation firearm, so he took it and the knife and fled with them and if had he been stopped [by police] he would have had an excuse.”

The court heard Morley kept hold of the weapons for a number of hours and had spent the evening with friends.

Mr Stewart said: “The knife couldn’t be opened. He had disposed of the [gun’s] magazine. He was foolish to keep them in his possession.

“He was not shooting or threatening anyone. He’s a young man who fled a violent situation.

“He was foolish but there is almost no criminal intent.”

Mr Stewart also said Morley might lose his home if he was jailed.

He added: “He made a stupid decision, there was no intent to go out running about with a knife and a gun.”

But magistrates felt the sentence warranted more than six months in custody and sent Morley’s cases to Canterbury Crown Court to be dealt with.

He was remanded in custody until then and a date for his sentencing hearing is yet to be set.