A TEEN who pointed a loaded crossbow at a traffic warden has been spared a spell behind bars.

Swindon Youth Court heard the 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named because he is under 18, was given the weapon in exchange for some cannabis. He brandished it in an effort to scare off a group of men attacking his friend.

Prosecutor Nick Barr said a traffic warden had been on Savernake Street on June 4 last year sorting out a parking dispute.

He left in his car but returned when he saw a fight breaking out among a group of young men.

A boy the traffic warden had seen earlier sat in the window of a flat shouted at the group: “I’ll get a gun and shoot you.”

The teen went inside, coming back out brandishing a crossbow. The weapon was pointed directly at the traffic warden. He then walked towards another man with his hand on the trigger, saying “I will shoot you”. He dumped the crossbow and left the scene.

Mr Barr said the boy had been interviewed on June 10 but answered no comment to questions asked.

The boy admitted unsupervised possession of a crossbow and affray.

Emma Thacker, defending, said the youngster had sought to defend his stricken friend – but had gone about it in completely the wrong way. “I think the only way to describe him is a young man who really has fallen between the cracks,” she said.

Her young client’s mum had died suddenly and the boy and his siblings had been split up. He was sent to live with his dad in the north of England but returned to Swindon.

In mid-2019 he was living on his own in a flat in Swindon town centre having been placed there by the borough council. Six months earlier he had spent Christmas alone.

Ms Thacker said: “The only support networks he had were his friends and on the day of these offences he saw one of his friends being assaulted outside his flat.

“He would be the first person to say ‘I’ve gone too far’.”

Since the affray he had moved in with a foster carer with whom he was said to enjoy an 'amazing' relationship.

Chairman of the bench David Barrand warned the boy about the dangers of carrying weapons like crossbows: “It’s almost equivalent to you carrying a handgun. This is lethal, this sort of implement.”

He added: “Make no mistake: these are very serious offences.”

The boy was given a two-year youth rehabilitation order, four month curfew and ordered to complete 60 hours of unpaid work.