A troubled teenager who frightened staff at a childcare centre by pulling out a fake gun has been ordered to receive treatment for his mental health.

Samuel Gill was just 18 and being looked after at Temple Cross Farm, near Tiverton, when the incident happened in March last year. He is now 19 and under the supervision of Cornwall social care.

Gill, formerly of Exeter Road, Topsham, was unfit to plead but a jury at Exeter Crown Court concluded that he had possessed an imitation firearm at a trial earlier this year.

The special trial, conducted under the provisions of the Mental Health Act, meant that the only disposals available to the Judge were psychiatric.

Judge Neil Davey, QC, made a one-year supervision order which put him under the care of Cornwall Council’s adult social services.

He told him: “Through no fault of your own, you suffer from mental illness problems and because of that you were living at Temple Cross Farm, a residential home for young people with difficulties like yours.

“On March 5, 2021, you got hold of an imitation handgun from somewhere and used it to point at two members of staff and a police officer.

“You will be supervised for the next 12 months and it is important for your mental health that you live in the right accommodation.”

Gill is currently being treated for a schizophrenic disorder at a facility in Cornwall.