An architect has been suspended from the profession after he brandished a fake gun and threatened to shoot a door-to-door salesman.
Martin Belt confronted the energy company rep with a lifelike handgun and threatened to shoot him if returned to his property.
The sales worker had no idea the weapon was deactivated and was so scared he 'feared for his life'.
Now, Belt, an architect of 25 years who ran his own company, has been suspended for 12 months following a Architects' Registration Board [ARB] tribunal.
Belt - who collected air rifles - was at home in the coastal town of Bridlington, East Yorks, when the young salesman visited on May 22, 2019.
An ARB tribunal report said: "Belt was involved in a confrontation with a door-to-door salesman outside his property.
"He came out of his property with an imitation handgun and threatened to shoot the man if he came back."
Belt claimed he believed the salesman who trying to con elderly people on the street, court reports state.
Belt said he ended up in the situation because he was in the middle of moving weapons upstairs at home.
The ARB report said: "He stated during his evidence that the events did not happen in the way alleged and he did not make any threats.
"Belt explained how he ended up in the street with a deactivated 'BB' gun and stated that this was in his rear pocket because he was about to carry other weapons upstairs and had his hands full."
Belt, then 53, was jailed for 18 months at Hull Crown Court in November 2020, having been convicted by jurors of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence.
But the ARB panel concluded that Belt's conduct - which happened in front of his 15 year old daughter - does not warrant being banned from practising despite it 'bringing the profession into disrepute'.
Belt complained he found it 'very difficult to live with his conviction as it did not reflect the person he was' and that it was 'life-changing'.
Concluding, the ARB panel said: "The committee considered that the conviction demonstrated that Belt had initiated a confrontation and he had taken with him a firearm which caused fear to a member of the public carrying out his door-to-door sales job.
"The committee considered that the conduct is capable of being remedied and Belt has begun to show some insight into certain aspects.
"The committee does not consider that Belt has entrenched integrity issues or that the conduct is fundamentally incompatible with him continuing to be a registered architect.
"The committee does not consider that Belt is unable to appreciate the nature of his failings such that he should be erased from the register."
Belt also made 'serious' failings over his communication with a client in 2019 and 2020, leaving them 'in the dark' and 'out of pocket' after they forked out £1,600 in fees, the panel heard.
