'Baddest boy in pop' jailed for stun-gun threat

'Baddest boy in pop' jailed for

stun-gun threat

Mark Morrison, 24, the soul singer who earlier this year styled himself the "baddest boy in pop", was jailed yesterday for three months for threatening a police officer with an electric stun gun.

He had admitted possessing the weapon, which gives off a 23,000-volt charge and can cause loss of balance and mental confusion, at his trial at Marylebone Magistrates Court last month. He denied, but was found guilty of threatening the policeman when the officer tried to arrest him outside a 24-hour convenience store in Notting Hill, west London, in October last year.

Morrison, who had a No 1 hit with "Return of the Mack", had argued that he did not know the stun gun was illegal. He said he had bought it in America to protect himself against hassle from members of the public.

Morrison's solicitor told the court: "The bad boy image of pop might go down well in America but as far as Britain and Europe are concerned, it is not the image he wants to cultivate."

Jailing Morrison, the stipendiary magistrate told him that his claims of good character and commitment to charity work had been ruined by "a horrendous record of public order offences".

Jason Bennetto