A man went on the rampage in his girlfriend's office because he suspected she was having an affair with a colleague.

Daniel Adams stormed into the taxi rank HQ in Bexhill where his partner Claire Pallett was on duty with a young male colleague and waved a pistol at them, a court heard.

He screamed at the terrified pair and ordered the man to leave the room before throwing a telephone at his girlfriend and wrecking the office.

The weapon was later found to be an unloaded, small, black starting pistol.

Lewes Crown Court yesterday heard the "emotionally fragile" Adams had snapped after "misinterpreting" Miss Pallett's relationship with her colleague.

Adams, 20, of Meadow Crescent, Sidley, Bexhill, pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm with the intention of causing fear of violence.

His girlfriend Miss Pallett, with whom he has since been reconciled, was in court to see him sentenced to a year in jail.

Miss Recorder Bowron said: "What you did was despicable and caused great fear. As far as your victims were concerned, what you were waving around was a firearm. Whether it was loaded, unloaded or whatever they could not tell.

"Your actions were folly at the least and wicked at the worst."

Jeremy Gold, in mitigation, had told the court Adams was an emotionally fragile young man whose "rather unusual dysfunctional upbringing" had affected him.

At the time of the offence, Adams had been under intense pressure as he strove to complete a community order while working full-time in a furniture store, he said.

His relationship was "in a state of flux" and he was having to deal with some of the frustrations of being a new father.