A GUN lover from Southgate who was accused of shooting at his wife was acquited of all charges by an Old Bailey jury this week.

The court was told that 48-year-old Michael Turpin, of Bounds Green Road, Southgate, had pointed a laser-guided gun at his wife, Valery, in a 'Rambo-style' fit of rage.

Mrs Turpin said that he then fired two bullets, which missed and ripped into the furniture beside her.

In the afternoon of December 1 last year the couple had an argument over the payment of a bill, the jury was told.

Later that day Turpin, to whom she had been married for 27 years, stormed into his wife's room hurling abuse at her and making threats.

She told the court: 'Then he went out and came back in and he had an air rifle. It was hanging from a shoulder strap and he started stomping around the room with that ? he's pointed that gun at me many a time.'

She said that her husband had told her he would give her 'such a good hiding' when an injunction, which she had taken out on him in June, had expired.

She added: 'He was just pointing the rifle at me at one point and he turned the lights off to demonstrate the piercing light of the laser which he was pointing at my face. This went on for about 15 to 20 minutes.

'He was prancing around as if he was some kind of Rambo. He fired what I thought was the air rifle at me. It sort of went bang. I was really scared.'

Earlier she had described how Turpin used the house to fire his guns, saying: 'You couldn't walk up the hall without fear of getting a pellet in the back of your head. I couldn't walk around my own house.'

But Turpin told the court that although he had discharged the gun he had not done so to terrify his wife and denied all charges against him.

There was no independent evidence to back up the claim, he said.

When asked if he had ever pointed a gun at his wife he replied: 'No.'

The jury acquitted Turpin of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence.