Woman jailed over court gun drama

A woman who held up three of England's most senior judges with an imitation gun was jailed for four years in her absence yesterday after she tried to escape from the dock. Ammartiti Muraglia had confronted the judges sitting during a criminal appeal at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand and demanded that they hear her own case - a civil appeal involving her child.

Muraglia, 26, from Camden, north London, had denied two charges of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear or violence. During yesterday's trial at the Old Bailey, she clambered over the 7ft high dock.

She was restrained by security staff and Judge Henry Blacksell ordered she should remain in the cells for the rest of the case. Sentencing her in her absence, he said her action "had serious, upsetting consequences for those subjected to her demands behind the barrel of a gun". Kate Watson-Smyth