A DRUG dealer who threatened a fellow motorist with an imitation firearm during a road rage incident has been jailed.

Gunman Jake Bartram was caught with hundreds of pounds worth of cannabis after being traced by police following the incident in Lymm.

Chester Crown Court heard on Tuesday, June 4, that victim Matthew Martin was driving along Whitbarrow Road shortly after 12.30pm on a Monday afternoon in February last year.

As he approached a bend, a Renault Clio being driven in the opposite direction by the 24-year-old defendant erred into Mr Martin’s path – forcing him to perform an emergency stop.

Unemployed Bartram, from Partington, also stopped his car and an argument ensued.

The former truck driver, who is also a qualified mechanic, reached into his car and pulled out what appeared to be a semi-automatic pistol.

Pointing the weapon at the victim, he said: “You never know who you’re messing with.”

But Mr Martin recognised that the gun was not real and said: “What are you going to do, shoot me?

“I bet it’s a toy gun – I can see it in your eyes, you’re shaking.”

Bartram was described as being ‘taken aback’ and drove away, but was stopped by police shortly afterwards.

During a search of his car, officers found £180 of cannabis in a JD Sports bag and £135 in cash in an Armani man bag as well as a BB gun, a Stanley knife and a knuckle duster.

Another £290 of cannabis was found when police searched his home.

A mobile phone seized from Bartram – who has two previous convictions for drug driving and criminal damage – also contained text messages indicating that he had been involved in drug dealing since April 2016.

Only nine days later, he was again stopped by police while driving in Lymm – with £20 of cannabis, £94 of etizolam and £7 of diazepam found in the vehicle.

The court heard that Bartram had broken his neck and hip in a car crash in 2013, with the need for pain relief leading to him developing an addiction to cannabis and prescription drugs.

He had been dealing drugs to fund his own habit, and carried the weapons having been previously stabbed in the hand while selling cannabis.

Bartram admitted possession of an imitation firearm, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, offering to supply cannabis, possession of a bladed article, possession of an offensive weapon, possession of cannabis, possession of diazepam and possession of etizolam during an earlier court hearing.

And judge Simon Berkson jailed him for 18 months.

Sentencing, judge Berkson said: “Only a short time before you were disqualified from driving because you took drugs and drove, you drove across the road in front of another car.

“You got out of your vehicle carrying what turned out to be an imitation firearm.

“Because of this, your vehicle was stopped and a sufficient amount of cannabis for the purposes of supplying was found.

“That’s what you were doing – supplying cannabis.

“There were also weapons, items which were there to protect the drugs you were supplying and the money you were gaining through the supply of drugs.

“This was not a one-off – over a period of time you had been involved in the supply of cannabis.

“In the end, the overall offending in this case is so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence meets the gravity of the offending.”

Judge Berkson ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the cannabis, weapons and mobile phone and seized the cash and Renault Clio.

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Bartram will also be required to pay a victim surcharge.