A PUB landlord who kept a Taser disguised as a torch behind his bar has been jailed.

Richard Hacker, of the Royal Oak on Devizes Road, was sentenced to two years in prison at Salisbury Crown Court on Friday.

He had previously pleaded guilty to possessing a concealed firearm.

Prosecuting, Simon Edwards said that overnight on April 25-26 last year Hacker had been having a "lock-in" at his pub while his partner, the landlady, was away.

But a police officer who was called for an unrelated issue spotted a Taser and a torch under the bar.

The torch was later found to be a Taser which had been disguised.

Mr Edwards said Hacker had found the item and kept it "lest there should be trouble in the pub but he had no intention of using it".

Defending, Simon Cotter said: "I feel desperately sorry in some ways for this gentlemen, as I don't think this was an item he was ever going to use."

He said Hacker and his partner had met through fostering children and she was "fragile" and would be "effectively by herself running the pub" if Hacker was jailed.

Mr Cotter said Hacker had found the Taser 18 months before being caught and "even considered taking it to the police station but never did".

Sentencing, Judge Parkes QC said: "He found it, foolishly brought it back to his pub and kept it under the bar in case of trouble. In this case he did know he was doing something wrong.

"He's behaved extraordinarily foolishly and he's even allowed his customers to know he has it.

"It's important that people should not have weapons of this kind and if they find them they should hand them in to the police."

Judge Parkes sentenced Hacker to two-years in prison saying a custodial sentence was "quite unavoidable" and the court must "send a message".