A man who had an imitation firearm at a York hostel for the homeless has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Police found the weapon when they went to arrest John Paul Lee Conlon, 43, on suspicion of robbery, said Helen Towers, prosecuting.

He was on a community order at the time for carrying a knife in public.

Conlon’s solicitor advocate Neal Kutte told York Crown Court: “This isn’t a man who is a danger or a risk to the public.”

Conlon denies any part in the robbery which had not involved any weapons, the solicitor said.

Conlon, who has 108 previous convictions, has been remanded in custody since his arrest in July. York Crown Court heard that no decision has been made whether or not to charge him with robbery.

Setting him free by giving him a suspended prison sentence, Recorder Paul Reid said it was an unusual case.

“This was a realistic looking imitation firearm capable of making a loud noise as you would expect with a starter pistol, and certainly something that would be very frightening to someone at who it was directed," he said.

But the weapon found at Changing Lives hostel in Union Terrace had not been used or involved in threatening anyone and Conlon himself had told police where to look for it.

The judge passed a six-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months on condition Conlon does 120 hours’ unpaid work and 20 days’ rehabilitative activities.

Conlon, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm when being arrested for robbery.

Ms Towers said police went to the hostel on July 21, 11 days after the robbery they suspected Conlon of being involved in.

He told them he had a blank firing weapon in a bag in his flat which he had had for a few months.

A police firearms officer said the starter pistol was loaded but was incapable of firing projectiles. Mr Kutte said Conlon had had the weapon for “a decade” and had bought it from the Blue Moon Trading Post. He said it was illegal for someone to have a firearm at the time they were being arrested, but the starter pistol was otherwise not illegal and the judge agreed.

It had been at his home and he had only taken it out to show it to friends and play with it. He had no intention of using it.

When he and his partner split up, he had moved into the hostel where he was arrested.

Although he had a long history of offending, he only had one for carrying a weapon. The community order for carrying a knife had been imposed when he had had a Stanley knife in his pocket when he shouldn’t have done. He used it for his work.