Men jailed after family's gunpoint terror

Jan 10 2009 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

John kerry

TWO men have been jailed for seven years each after an innocent family was subjected to a terrifying gun ordeal outside a West Yorkshire pub.

Motorist Paul Kirby was driving his wife and two children along Lower Edge Road in Elland last September when they were caught up in a disturbance between rival groups outside the Royal Oak pub.

Mr Kirby drove into a cul-de-sac after a hail of bottles was thrown at three men who were parked outside the pub in a Land Rover Discovery.

He contacted the police when he saw one of the men from the car walking around with a sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun, but the gunman then came towards his vehicle and pointed the weapon at the family.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday how the family feared they were going to be shot before the man got back in the Land Rover and it drove away.