A PRANKSTER who repeatedly Tasered himself to 'entertain' people on social media has been spared jail, telling police afterwards 'it didn't half hurt!'

Kyle Johnson used the Taser, disguised as a torch, to repeatedly stun himself, swearing and shouting 'arrrrrh!' and 'woo!' as his friends laughed in the background during the shocking incident in an Evesham park.

The 21-year-old of Rynal Place, Evesham, admitted possession of a disguised firearm without the lawful authority of the Secretary of State when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Wednesday.

Possession of such a weapon normally attracts a minimum five year prison sentence.

Matthew Barnes, prosecuting, said police received a telephone call on June 25 informing them that the video had been posted on social media the day before.

"The video itself shows him Tasering himself several times and clearly causing himself extreme pain in the process. The video was filmed in a park in broad daylight," said Mr Barnes.

Mr Barnes added that there were three people in the background, one of whom appeared to be a child. However, Mark Sheward, for Johnson, assured the court that all of those appearing in the video were adults.

"He does not brandish it in a way that causes danger to other people" said Mr Barnes.

Johnson was arrested and interviewed by police on June 26 this year, accepting that the video was of him stunning himself.

"He said he made the video for Facebook or social media for other people's amusement and entertainment" Mr Barnes told the court.

Johnson and told police 'it didn't half hurt!' and that he had borrowed the item purely for the purpose of shocking himself, disposing of it afterwards by throwing it in a bin. The weapon has never been recovered and Johnson refused to tell police who had owned the Taser. He said he knew what he was doing was an offence.

Aggravating features were that the incident happened in a public place and that it may encourage others to obtain such a weapon.

Balanced against that, the judge said it was not used for any other criminal activity, it was a non-lethal weapon and he only used it on himself.

Johnson has a reprimand when he was still a youth aged around 13 for possession of a prohibited weapon after setting fire to deodorant sprayed from a can of Lynx.

Mark Sheward, defending, said Johnson had uploaded the video to a social media site to gain 'kudos' and argued that the judge could move away from the five year minimum sentence if he concluded that there were exceptional circumstances.

He also said his client should be entitled to full credit for his early guilty plea.

Johnson was in full time work and character references were provided by Mr Sheward from his client's employer.

"He had no idea of the ramifications of what he was doing on that particular day" said Mr Sheward who told the court it was 'not the brightest thing' his client had ever done.

Judge Nicholas Cole said the evidence was consistent with the incident being a 'prank' or 'stunt', finding that there were exceptional circumstances to depart from the minimum five year prison term.

Instead imposed a 16 month prison sentence suspended for 18 months. Johnson was also placed on an electronically monitored three month tag between 9pm and 6am.

He must also pay £535 in prosecution costs.