HOTEL SIEGE LANDS MAN IN PRISON
01 January 2000
A DRUNKEN man who threatened to shoot a hotel guest during a police siege has been jailed for four years.
Gary Potter, 32, booked into the Lambton Arms in Chester-le-Street, Durham, after a drinking spree.
Staff noticed that Potter had a gun while showing him to his room. As armed police surrounded the building, Potter drew the imitation gun, forced a 59-year-old guest to open his bedroom door, and pointed the gun at the guest's head.
When police cornered Potter, he set light to tablecloths. He was arrested after police blinded him with CS gas.
Potter, of Coquet Drive, Perkinsville, admitted recklessly endangering life through arson and possessing an imitation gun intending to cause fear or violence.
