A hi-fi buff who burgled a man's home at gunpoint and threatened to chop off his fingers in a row over a stereo has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Paul Turner, 36, and three other men raided the victim's Hove flat one night following a spat over a second-hand Nakamichi cassette deck.

Turner had bought the deck five months earlier for £1,100 and was furious that the seller refused to give his cash back when it went wrong.

So he and his accomplices, armed with replica guns, swords and a pair of secateurs, descended on the seller's home in Montpelier Road in a "terrifying" burglary in August.

Richard Cherrill, prosecuting, told Lewes Crown Court: "The seller suggested that the deck should be taken to agents in Lancing. He said he would pay for the repairs.

"Six weeks later the defendant rang again complaining and demanded his money back, but the seller refused.

"Shortly after midnight on August 10 this defendant with three other men went to the seller's flat.

"The defendant was armed with a gun, one of the three other men had a gun and the others had swords.

"A gun was pointed at the victim and they remonstrated about the cassette deck.

"They said that he would pay for it and that they would help themselves to what was in the flat.

"He was subjected to what must have been an absolutely terrifying ordeal.

"The defendant continued to threaten him with a gun and threatened to cut his fingers off and shoot him if there were any repercussions.

"These men took various items of property from the flat.

"Fortunately an alert neighbour realised there was something going on and telephoned the police and there was a car in the vicinity which responded.

"They were able to apprehend this defendant but not the other men.

"This defendant was observed to throw something under a car which was the weapon and he was found to have in his pocket a pair of secateurs with which he had threatened to remove the man's fingers."

He added that the gun was shown to be a replica of a Beretta pistol that fired pellets using compressed gas.

Mr Cherrill added: "The pellets would be able to penetrate through flesh and could cause a fatal injury.

"This appeared to the victim to be a genuine gun with which he could be killed. It was thought to be a genuine bullet firing pistol."

Turner, of Goldstone Villas, Hove, admitted aggravated burglary.

Helen Khan, defending, said that it was "a peculiar case".

She said: "He accepts what happened and the fear and terror instilled in the victim when they got into the premises.

"He had bought the gun a couple of days beforehand. He had complained to almost anyone who would listen that he had been short changed as a result of this deal.

"He spent over £1,000 on the stereo equipment using the last of the legacy his father left him. He felt very aggrieved when the equipment did not work properly.

"It was a complete over reaction but at the time in the state he was in he was not thinking clearly and he got himself into a situation where matters escalated."

She added that Turner was suffering from depression and was taking medication at the time.