A PUB landlord has been jailed for five months after police found pepper spray in his bedroom.
David Hinton, landlord of the Wilton Arms in Dawes Road, Fulham, was found guilty on August 2 of possessing a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid or gas.
Police raided the pub in February in response to concerns about crime, disorder and drug-taking, and found CS spray on the dresser in the 46-year-old's bedroom, which was above the Wilton Arms.
The pub was closed down promptly after the raid when Hammersmith and Fulham Council discovered previous demands to improve CCTV coverage had not been met.
At West London Magistrates Court, Hinton argued he had confiscated the spray from a customer and had forgotten to give it to the police. His lawyer also said he was moving out of the area and trying to turn his life around by setting up his own pub in Surrey.
Hinton denied the allegations at a preliminary hearing but changed his plea to guilty on July 7 before he was sentenced on Friday.
Sentencing, District Judge Paul Clark, said: "You didn't plead guilty straight away which goes against you. Why did you have the CS spray in the first place? What was the real reason you had it there? You have a clear disdain for the police and you have a bad record in general. You've had a previous conviction for CS gas in 2006 and I detect there was more to this incident than you have admitted."
Hinton was in the middle of serving a suspended sentence for drink driving and assaulting a policeman in October last year.
Mr Clark handed Hinton three months in prison for possession of a weapon and two months for breaking the suspended sentence.
