A MAN has denied holding an air pistol to the head of a love rival when the pair met near Workington.
Billy Wildgoose, 25, denies two charges and is on trial at Carlisle Crown Court.
One charge alleges possession of an imitation firearm – a Walther CP88 air pistol – with intent to cause fear of violence. A second alleges Wildgoose did an act in April, 2019, tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice.
Both follow an encounter between Wildgoose and his girlfriend’s former partner, Tyler Wilson, in September, 2017. Mr Wilson alleges that, as he sat in a car at Siddick, Wildgoose approached and, through an open window, pointed what he thought was a real gun – an air pistol – at him.
He pulled it out and put it next to my head,” said Mr Wilson. He spoke of it feeling “cold” and being left frightened and “sad”. He claimed Wildgoose “said he wasn’t scared to use it”.
An imitation firearm later found at Wildgoose’s home has been shown to jurors.
Giving evidence this afternoon (TUES), Wildgoose said Mr Wilson requested a clear-the-air meeting to resolve past problems involving the female. “He said that he’d heard I was selling air rifles,” said Wildgoose.
Mr Wilson, he said, was interested in buying an air pistol.
They met at Siddick, where Wildgoose approached Mr Wilson’s Ford Focus having asked a cousin to film the meeting from his car nearby. “Just in case Tyler tried doing anything to me,” explained Wildgoose, who said Mr Wilson immediately began talking about the female.
“I pulled the gun out of my pocket and said ‘I’ve come here to sell you the gun – you either want to buy it or you don’t’.”
When Mr Wilson replied he didn’t want to buy anything, Wildgoose said he put it back in his pocket and was “quite angry”. He punched Mr Wilson, who drove away.
“The gun never made contact with Tyler,” insisted Wildgoose. “It wasn’t pointed in any threatening way.”
Wildgoose, of Hunday Court, Workington, admitted later posting part of Mr Wilson’s police interview transcript on Facebook. But he insisted: “I didn’t do it to intimidate Tyler whatsoever.”
The trial continues.
