A Father Christmas look-a-like who pointed a gun in the face of a taunting 15 year-old girl outside his suburban home - and pulled the trigger - after she shouted: "What's up Santa Claus" was jailed for three years today.
Hugh Vipond, 60, of Crichton Road, Carshalton - the long-standing chairman of Carshalton Fields Residents Association - was woken by four noisy girls and put on his dressing gown and armed himself with an unloaded German-made 5.5 calibre cartridge-loading air-gun.
"Four giggling teenage girls were was passing your house making a noise and that behaviour irritated you to the point of rage," Croydon Crown Court Judge Simon Pratt told tearful Vipond.
"You took your father-in-law's old gas powered cartridge revolver and went out to confront those girls, one of whom made the mistake of making fun of you. She called you Father Christmas.
"You pulled the gun out of the pocket of your dressing gown, held it to her face within a foot and said: 'Look what I can do,' and pulled the trigger.
"That terrified the life out of her as well as having a serious psychological effect on her."
First-time offender Vipond,(pictured) who needs two walking sticks due to severe arthritis, was recovering from a painful hernia procedure that day and had taken a cocktail of painkillers and whiskey to help him sleep.
He was convicted by a jury of possessing a firearm, with intent to cause fear of violence, on December 4, 2009 and avoided the usual five-year minimum due to 'exceptional circumstances'.
He maintains his innocence - claiming to have no recollection of the incident outside his CCTV protected house - and told the jury he would never be upset by being called Santa Claus.
"I have been called Santa lots of times. At work I used to dress up and turn the operations room into a grotto," said the former London Underground Inspector. "I got told off for it, but that didn't bother me."
Vipond's lawyer Mr. Anthony Bell told the court: "His home in Carshalton is somewhere he loves more than he can explain. His award-winning garden is a place he has devoted hours to.
"It is a gun that could have been used to fire pellets, but there were no pellets and no gas to fill the cartridge," added the lawyer. "It was used over a short period of time as a threat, rather than anything else.
"This was not pre-meditated, but used on the spur of the moment, there was no prolonged use and it was over in a couple of minutes.
"The gun was kept in a safe and there is no evidence the gun had ever been fired," said Mr. Bell. "There was no ammunition found that could have been fired using that gun.
"The effect of any prison sentence is likely to be far more significant than on a normal able-bodied man of his age.
"He is a popular man that gets involved in the community. He is honest, good company, reliable and hard-working when he is able to."
In his twenties Vipond helped rescue a woman from a burning building and suffered a fractured skull and ribs when assaulted on the Underground.
"It is clear that her life has been difficult since this incident and her school work and grades have dipped alarmingly to the point she has to have a school counsellor," said Judge Pratt.
"There has never been an apology from you and you made her relive the experience in court. You tried to bluster and charm your way out of this case."
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