A BANNED driver who pointed a loaded crossbow out of a car window across a city-centre street has been jailed for two years.

William Edward Howgego, 32, was on a suspended prison sentence for drug dealing when he reversed up side streets off Walmgate and pointed the crossbow. Inside the car were five more crossbow bolts, three throwing knives and a young child, York Crown Court heard.

His barrister Tony Kelbrick said of the crossbow: “He could well have fired it. It was loaded and cocked, but he chose not to.”

Judge Nick Clarke told Howgego: “Had someone been nearby, someone could have suffered a very serious injury. At least one member of the public was terrified by what she saw. When someone points a loaded weapon, only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”

Howgego, of Wycliffe Avenue in Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to affray, possessing a crossbow in public, eight charges of possessing an article with a blade in public, two offences each of driving whilst disqualified and without insurance and one each of resisting a police officer and breaching a suspended prison sentence imposed for supplying heroin and a conditional discharge.

He was jailed for two years and banned from driving for the same period. York Crown Court heard he has a history of having weapons in public and breaking driving bans.

Rebecca Strange, prosecuting, said at 4.45pm on April 4, Howgego drove a car backwards along Margaret Street into Albert Street, wound his window down, reached into the back of the car for the crossbow, loaded it with a bolt and pointed towards an area where shouting could be heard. He put the crossbow back in the car as a woman ran up to him and had a heated argument.

On May 9, a member of the public had to jump out of Howgego’s way as he drove a dark blue car in the Tang Hall area erratically.

Police found him shortly afterwards on a lay-by off the A166.

As they approached, he drove off at 5mph to 10mph for about 50 yards before stopping. On May 29, Howgego became violent when police tried to arrest him and had to be subdued with a spray.

Mr Kelbrick said he had initially been a passenger in the car on April 4, and took over the wheel when the other driver jumped out and ran off.

The weapons didn’t belong to Howgego, but he knew they were there and when a man called “Brad” approached the car, he had used the crossbow to frighten him off.