ARMED police surrounded a gunman seen on security cameras to be threatening passers-by in Oxford city centre - only to discover he was brandishing a plastic toy gun.

Steven Dancer, 20, was celebrating a birthday on Friday with friends who were in fancy dress when a friend dressed as a pirate left behind his musket gun in The Goose pub.

Mr Dancer grabbed the gun planning to hand it back then jokingly pretended to shoot friends as he walked down Worcester Street.

Seconds later two armed police squad cars came to a halt and he was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm.

He said: "They saw me on CCTV with it in my hand. I ran into a couple of people I know and I pointed the gun at them. They easily knew it was fake it had a massive red end on it for a start.

"About 30 seconds later two police cars pulled up and told me I was under arrest for possessing a firearm.

"I didn't know they were armed until I got to the police station where they told me."

Mr Dancer was taken to police custody but was later released without charge.

Police spokesman James Clements said a city centre CCTV operator saw a man in Worcester Street shortly before midnight with what was believed to be a firearm.

"It was quite apparent when he was arrested it was a toy gun. But firearms are something the police take extremely seriously and it's not always possible to distinguish at a distance whether or not the weapon is real or not.

"We urge people not to take toy guns into public places."