A man who was attacked by a drunk gunman was praised by a judge for disarming him by whacking him in the face.

Marcin Pawlak, 39, flew into a rage and threatened to shoot property developer Herminder Cheema who was clearing rubbish from behind his flat.

Pawlak branded Mr Cheema 'dirty' before pointing a weapon at him and telling him 'I will shoot you,' in the completely unprovoked incident.

But Mr Cheema, 43, was unmoved and bravely fought back by punching the aggressor in the face before wrestling the gun from his hand and hurling it away.

Pawlak hot footed it back into his flat while Mr Cheema called police who came to the crime scene in upmarket Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

The gun appeared at first to be a SIG Sauer P226 semi-automatic 9mm pistol, used by US Navy Seals, but turned out to be CO2-powered replica.

Pawlak, of Leamington Spa, admitted possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and was jailed for 19 months on Friday.

Judge Barry Berlin said: "Anyone who points a loaded firearm at someone and threatens to shoot them deserves an immediate custodial sentence.

"You had a loaded air pistol which looked like a true firearm and caused Mr Cheema to fear unlawful violence.

"He was there to remove some building rubbish from a property when you, in a drunken rage, confronted him and raised the pistol and said 'I will shoot you.

'"Faced with that and fearing for his life, he punched you and wrestled the pistol from your hand.

"He must have feared for his life to have tackled you in that way.

"This is an extremely serious event, and you present a risk to the public."

The court heard Pawlak threatened Mr Cheema who was clearing rubbish from a building he owned in Leamington Spa in September last year.

Andrew Wilkins, prosecuting, said: "As he was doing so, Pawlak came out of the rear gate of the neighbouring property and remarked, 'You dirty people.'"

"He was holding a black pistol which he raised and pointed at Mr Cheema, threatening, 'I will shoot you.'"

"Mr Cheema feared it was a genuine firearm, and he punched the defendant in the face and managed to wrestle it from him and throw it away."

Philip Vollans, defending, said: "He was doing target practice in the garden. He did not go out there intending to cause violence.

"His alcohol abuse at the time was significant but he has, of his own volition as a consequence of this offence, endeavoured to tackle the problem."

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