A South Hams kickboxing teacher has been found guilty of firing off an imitation assault rifle during a children’s session despite receiving a personal reference from Darth Vader.

Peter Sheridan was cleared of shooting at the children during the class at Kingsbridge Leisure Centre but convicted of possessing the fake M40 Carbine in a public place.

His actions were branded as a ludicrous piece of behaviour and very foolish by a judge at Exeter Crown Court after the jury returned its verdicts.

Sheridan claimed he produced the gun and fired at the ceiling as a game during the final lesson before Christmas in December 2016.

The parents of one of the six children at the class said their son was frightened and upset and had suffered a red mark where he was hit my one of 70 6mm plastic pellets fired from the battery-powered automatic gun.

Sheridan is a former European and British medal-winning martial arts expert who used to train with actor Spencer Wilding, who played Darth Vader in the latest Star Wars film Rogue One.

Mr Wilding, who has also starred in Harry Potter movies and episodes of Doctor Who, wrote a character reference for Sheridan which was read to the jury.

However, the force was not with him, and he was convicted of the most serious offence.

Sheridan, 46, of Kingsway Park, Kingsbridge, was found guilty of possessing an imitation firearm but cleared of three counts of assault by battery.

He has been banned from teaching or working with children since his arrest 14 months ago and will now be unable to resume his career as a martial arts coach.

Judge David Evans told him he will not go to jail and adjourned the case until next week so the probation service can assess whether he is suitable for community service.

He said: "It seems from the verdicts the defendant took the gun into a children’s kickboxing class where it had no sensible place.

"He fired it very foolishly and when he was perhaps over excited about his big gun and did not appreciate that children might get hit.

"The foolishness of taking a semi-automatic assault rifle-style BB gun into a children’s class and firing it off is clear. It was a ludicrous piece of behaviour.

"There will be consequences for him professionally, but lest anyone feel any sympathy for him, that is how it should be."

Sean Brunton, defending, said Sheridan had never been in trouble before and was keen to do community work despite a heart problem which caused him to collapse in the dock during the trial.

In the five-day case, the jury heard how three children aged 10 or 11 complained they had small marks where they had been hit by pellets.

Officers seized the battery-powered BB gun, which is a realistic imitation of a M40 carbine and fires 6mm pellets. Staff at the centre found 70 on the floor of the hall after the lesson ended.

Sheridan said the gun was a toy, he fired at the ceiling rather than at the children, and that they were laughing as they ran around the hall.

He said: "I just did it for a laugh. The children were running up and down the hall. They were going one way and I was shooting the gun the other way. I was shooting it away from them.

"I fired up upwards and into the top of the curtains so they fell like raindrops as they came off the roof and the windows. I did not shoot at the children.

"It was just a game. It was a toy gun. One of the children was saying ’shoot me, shoot me’. Of course I did not intend to shoot the children.

"I treat all the kids in my class as if they were my own. That’s why I fired in the opposite direction. All the parents were laughing."