A terminal cancer sufferer has been jailed for two years after he armed himself with a loaded shotgun and a knife to hunt down a gang of youths who had spent months tormenting him.

Terrence Zelkin, 57, finally snapped when they discovered where he lived and started banging on his door.

Feeling frightened, he tied a large Bowie knife to his leg and picked up the sawn-off shotgun he had bought from a friend to shoot rats.
He then went out to confront the youngsters who promptly fled down some stairs, still hurling insults.

London’s Southwark Crown Court was told that, once outside, he headed for a nearby fireworks party, thinking his tormentors might be there.

But another youngster saw the armed man and ran off to warn his father.

“When the father challenged him, Zelkin produced the knife… and pointed the gun at him,” said Isobel Ascherson, prosecuting.

“The defendant then told him ‘I don’t want any trouble, just go away’.”

Zelkin, of Summercourt Road, Stepney, east London, admitted one count of possessing a firearm on November 6 last year, doing so without a certificate, having it with the intention of causing fear of violence, possessing ammunition, and having an offensive weapon - a reference to the knife.