Six months for town centre firework scare

A MAN has been jailed for six months after letting off fireworks in a busy town centre narrowly missing children and passing cars.

Video footage showed Norman Wood letting off the pyrotechnics in the middle of the day in Kirkwall on Orkney.

He was caught on CCTV standing on a pavement lighting the firework and walking towards a family with a child.

The firework ignites and explodes in several directions, hitting a car which stopped as it turned into the street.

Thick smoke covered the street as onlookers fled from the scene while Wood was seen walking away.

Wood, pictured, pleaded guilty to setting off fireworks in a culpable and reckless manner outside St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall on December 30 last year.

Nobody was injured in the afternoon incident, despite the area being busy with people on foot and in vehicles.

Wood, 48, was sentenced at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

Police Scotland Orkney area commander Chief Inspector Matt Webb said: ‘Norman Wood’s actions were entirely reckless and it is fortunate that nobody was injured as a result.

‘Fireworks can be incredibly dangerous when not used safely and the consequences of his behaviour could have been far more severe.’