A GUNMAN has been jailed after he fired an air rifle as his sister’s partner and children fled his dying mother’s house.

Martin Keenan, 40, had just broken a cupboard door by pushing his partner into it and pushed his sister into a cabinet in an argument over his care of his mother, who had terminal cancer, York Crown Court heard.

Keenan, formerly of Charles Street, Selby, pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to make others fear violence, two charges of assault and one of possessing cannabis found on him on arrest.

In addition to a jail term of two years an eight months, the judge also made a 10-year restraining order banning Keenan from having any contact with the victim couple and the children.

The victim and one of the two children “heard the whine of the pellet passing close to them,” said Michael Bosomworth, prosecuting.

The sister’s family had gone to the mother’s home when a nurse telephoned them to say she was deteriorating, had to go to hospital, and was alone on her home.

When they arrived, Keenan had returned and said he was entitled to a break.

Keenan later missed their mother’s funeral, Mr Bosomworth told York Crown Court. He had a previous firearms conviction.

Judge Simon Hickey said to Keenan: “I have no doubt tempers were running high on both sides. You no doubt took umbrage at what was said to you under the emotional pressure of caring for your mother.

“There are two sides to this story.”

For Keenan, Andrew Walker said he had a brain injury caused by a recent motorbike accident, had given up his job, accommodation and partner in Salisbury to move back to Selby to live with and care for his mother, and had mental health problems.

He had intended to go to the funeral but went to the wrong church, which had a similar name.

Mr Bosomworth said Keenan also hit a gate post with a second pellet and reloaded his rifle before the police arrived following the victims’ 999 call.

The prosecution accepted that because the air rifle had a defective telescopic sight Keenan had not fired deliberately at the fleeing people.

In 1999, he was jailed for nine months for affray and carrying an air rifle after he hid in long grass and fired towards children in a Selby playground, hitting one of them on the leg.