Man with 'gun' and crossbow in car wanted to 'catch food' for McDonald's worker

A dangerous driver had an imitation handgun and a crossbow with arrows in his car to "catch food", a court heard today. David Cook, 37, said he wanted to get a meal for a McDonald's worker with whom he was in love.

Police had become suspicious about Cook's behaviour and lay a Stinger device across the exit of the McDonald's car park in Chirk, and Cook drove over it in his BMW. Caernarfon Crown Court heard he then crossed double white lines and travelled at 70mph in a 30mph zone before ploughing into a central reservation.

He was arrested and officers found the weapons in his vehicle. A judge, who heard Cook has mental health issues, gave him two suspended sentences partly because he has already served the equivalent of a ten-month jail term on remand.

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Prosecutor Rosemary Proctor said PC Matthew Bagnall in a patrol car spotted Cook in his stationary BMW at the McDonald's car park in Chirk on November 8 last year. He appeared to be shouting something out of his car window.

Ms Proctor said PC Bagnall wound down his own car window and asked Cook: "Is everything alright?" but Cook drove away. PC Bagnall was not trained to pursue anyone by patrol car and reported the incident to the force control room. Later PC Bagnall learned Cook had returned to the same McDonald's.

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This time officers strung a Stinger across the car park exit. Cook drove over it. It punctured two tyres but he carried on driving away once again with the car bumper hanging off.

Ms Proctor said Cook drove the BMW at 70mph in a 30mph zone and was "weaving" across wet roads. He also went round a blind, right hand bend in the wrong lane and went the wrong way around the Gledrid roundabout on the A5.

He accelerated to 80mph despite heavy rain and poor visibility, the court heard. Eventually a wheel came off and Cook hit a central reservation and stopped.

He was handcuffed and police found a compound bow with arrows - for which there was no charge - an imitation handgun, which turned out to be an air pistol, and a knife.

Ms Proctor said Cook said he was in love with a woman called Madison who worked at McDonald's in Chirk. "He was going to use the weapons to catch food for the two of them," said the prosecutor.

Gareth Bellis, defending, said his client, of no fixed address, had pleaded guilty and he has "some mental health issues". The judge Her Honour Nicola Saffman noted that the defendant has served five months on remand - which is the equivalent to a ten-month sentence.

So she gave him a two-month jail term, suspended for 12 months, for dangerous driving. He must do a ten-month accredited programme chosen by the probation service and he was disqualified from driving for three years. He must pass an extended retest before he can legally drive again.

Cook was also given a two-month jail term, suspended for 12 months, for possession of the knife in a public place. There were no separate penalties for possession of an imitation firearm in a public place or for driving with excess alcohol because of the other sentences.

But he also received a three-year driving ban for driving with excess alcohol, to run concurrently to the other three-year ban. The weapons are to be forfeited and destroyed, added the judge.

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