Bradford Crown Court: Jail for man who fired a crossbow at another man 'who feared for his life' in a Calderdale village

Brian Tiller’s lawyer, Andrew Walker, described the crossbow as “a glorified toy”, compared to a proper crossbow, but Judge Colin Burn concluded it had been a highly dangerous weapon.

Tiller, 58, admitted a charge of unlawful wounding having been arrested following the incident at the block of flats last August.

Bradford Crown Court heard today that an earlier incident involving a fuse which Tiller had taken from another resident’s flat led up to the confrontation.

Prosecutor David McGonigal said the complainant, who had returned the fuse to a woman’s flat, opened her door only to be confronted by Tiller brandishing the weapon.

“The defendant shot a bolt from it at the complainant’s chest from a distance of three to four feet,” said Mr McGonigal.

The victim was caused pain by the bolt, but only suffered the small puncture wound and did not require any hospital treatment.

In his statement to police, the complainant said he believed that Tiller was trying to kill him and he had been shot at from point blank range.

Mr McGonigal said the complainant had feared for his life.

Solicitor advocate Mr Walker, for Tiller, said his client had described the incident as “a moment of madness” and he had been remanded in custody for the last six months.

Mr Walker submitted that the crossbow used by his client was not in the category of a powerful weapon that could fire bolts which would pierce the skin and internal organs.

But Judge Burn said he was having to deal with Tiller for an extremely serious offence.

He said there had been an earlier confrontation before Tiller walked up to the door having taken the deliberate decision to arm himself with a loaded and primed crossbow.

The judge said the victim would have felt his life was in danger and that would have added to the horror of the incident.

Judge Burn said it was impossible for the court to deal with a loaded crossbow as anything other than a highly dangerous weapon.