A man from Wrexham who had previously been assaulted made his own illegal taser device.

Thomas Cheshire-Towell, 24, took it out with him to a nightclub "as a visual deterrent”, Mold Crown Court was told.

He was spotted, police were called and he hid the make-shift device.

Cheshire-Towell admitted possessing and manufacturing the six inch device – described by the judge as “rather crude looking”.

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New York New York bar in Wrexham

It had two nail-style prongs sticking out of one end and looked like a sawn-off, old-fashioned, tennis racket, said Judge Rhys Rowlands.

Cheshire-Towell, of Plas Acton Road, believed the battery operated device could deliver a 6,000 volt shock but an expert concluded it was less than that.

He had even built in a safety device where a button had to be pressed at the same time that the wires were connected to a battery before it could be activated.

The judge warned it was a serious matter which could easily have led to immediate custody.

But he took the view that Cheshire-Towell was rather immature and, exceptionally, he had decided to suspend the sentence.

He received an eight month prison sentence suspended for two years and was placed on a four month tagged curfew to remain indoors between 8pm and 6am. He had no previous convictions

Judge Rowlands ordered that the device should be confiscated and destroyed.

Barrister Simon Rogers, prosecuting, said that in the early hours of October 2 police were contacted after Cheshire-Towell was seen with the device at New York, New York Bar.

At 3.45am he was seen in a car park in Market Street and was searched but nothing was recovered.

However the device was found some 10ft away and he was arrested.

Interviewed he said he had it “as a visual deterrent “because he had recently been assaulted.

He had made it himself and said it would give a 6,000 volt shock, would not harm anyone, but would cause mild discomfort.

Barrister Mark Connor, defending, said its purpose was not to harm anybody but to use as a deterrent if needed, simply by firing it off.

Contact would be needed for any injury to be caused.

He said Cheshire-Towell had a difficult time when he left home, had been homeless, he had been assaulted and perhaps those life experiences had affected his judgement.

Character references referred to him as trustworthy, honest and someone who came from a close, loving family. He was of great assistance to his mother who had five children.

He had no history of anti-social behaviour and was genuinely remorseful.

“He made a mistake, an error of judgement,” Mr Connor said.

Cheshire-Towell had been a bit immature making it in the first place and did not think through properly what he was doing. “He has learnt his lesson,” he said.

Judge Rowlands said Cheshire-Towell was out in the centre of Wrexham armed with a home-made taser or stun gun which was in working order.

It was carried into a bar.

Interviewed, he claimed he had been assaulted and had it as a visual deterrent – but if he was concerned at being assaulted, the judge asked what he was doing out drinking in the bars of Wrexham in the early hours?

It was a weapon which had “absolutely no legitimate purpose at all”.

The judge said Cheshire-Towell chose to make a dangerous device and take it out on the streets late at night for which there could be no excuse.

"Carrying any weapon on the streets of our towns late at night is fraught with danger,” he said.

Judge Rowlands said Cheshire-Towell's claim in his pre-sentence report that he had finished making it in a workshop and was on his way home in a taxi when he had a message to join his friend in a nightclub was “nonsense.”