A MAN who claims he bought a stun gun at a car boot sale as a joke was spared jail yesterday.

Dale Read, 23, of Rollestone Street, Salisbury, was given an eight-month prison term, suspended for a year, for possessing a Taser.

He had previously admitted the charge.

Police searched Read’s address over concerns about cannabis use and found the fully-working weapon, disguised as a torch, in a drawer.

Salisbury Crown Court heard that Read had 11 previous convictions for 21 offences, some of them violent.

They included kidnapping, for which he received a suspended sentence in 2013.

Judge Barnett said it was “quite a serious matter” because of the potential harm the weapon could cause.

He said: “It does seem he’s trying to sort himself out, despite his troubled past.

“I will suspend the sentence. Although it hasn’t worked in the past, one hopes it will in the future.

“If he’s stupid enough to commit any other offences, he knows the consequences.”

Judge Barnett said the matter was “no joke” because Tasers could “incapacitate people quite seriously”.

“You can do a lot of damage without meaning to,” he said.