Man Jailed Three Years for Pointing Fake Gun Over Missing Dips

A south London chicken shop worker had a realistic imitation firearm pressed against his head on Christmas Eve after a customer stormed back to dispute the number of dip portions in his order. The sentencing of Marwan Khadir, 18, of Malcolm Close, Penge, to three years in prison throws into sharp relief a persistent public-safety problem: how easily replica weapons transform routine disputes into potentially lethal confrontations for food and retail workers.

CCTV footage released by the Metropolitan Police tells the story with grim precision. At around 9pm on 24 December 2025, Khadir placed an order at a south London takeaway: three chicken legs, chips, a drink, three garlic dips and three mayonnaise dips. He left, returned to his nearby flat, and was captured on camera methodically searching through his bag and counting the sauce portions. Convinced he had been shortchanged, he walked back to the shop shouting: "I asked for three garlics and three mayos!"

What followed was not an argument. The Metropolitan Police described an armed attack lasting over two minutes. Khadir pressed the weapon against the employee's head, threatened to shoot and kill him, and assaulted him multiple times. The firearm was a realistic imitation; fake ammunition was recovered alongside it. The victim, who reported the assault on Christmas Day, had been working a holiday shift when a disagreement over condiments became a threat on his life.

The investigation ran through the Christmas and New Year period without pause. Officers from the Metropolitan Police, working with firearms command, identified Khadir through intensive CCTV analysis, financial tracking, local resident checks and large-scale phone work. Armed police arrested him on 2 January 2026. The replica gun, imitation ammunition, and clothing matching the CCTV footage were all seized.

On 30 January, Khadir pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court to three charges: possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, making threats to kill, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The three-year sentence followed.

Detective Sergeant Amy Cross, who led the investigation, said: "The tireless work by officers on this case over the Christmas and New Year period is further evidence that policing never stops, and their efforts ultimately led to a conviction. All our thoughts continue to remain with the victim of this terrifying ordeal, something no one should ever have to go through, let alone at their place of work." Cross also praised the worker's courage in coming forward and identifying his attacker.

The case exposes a gap in how imitation firearms are treated before they are used in violence. Under Section 16A of the Firearms Act 1968, using a replica weapon to threaten can carry a maximum of life imprisonment where intent to endanger life is proven; simply carrying one in public without lawful authority carries up to six months. Yet acquisition remains largely ungoverned, and the physical realism of modern replicas means victims have no means of distinguishing them from live weapons in the moment.

The Metropolitan Police seized 676 firearms from London's streets last year, a 75 per cent increase on 2024. Khadir's case illustrates why that pressure matters beyond organised crime: a realistic replica, a missing dip, and a worker alone on Christmas Eve were enough.