A bar owner is to face trial over an accusation that he threatened to shoot a regional daily journalist.

Paul Weeks, 46, is accused of making a menacing telephone call to a reporter working for the Grimsby Telegraph and its Grimsby Live sister website, saying “If you run the story, I’ll find you and shoot you”.

Weeks, pictured, has denied making the telephone call, allegedly incident made while the reporter was working on a story about the Chambers bar, in Grimsby, on 28 August last year.

According to Grimsby Live, the case of Weeks, of Appleleaf Lane, Barton-upon-Humber, was mentioned at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court.

The original charge of causing a telephone call to be made, with the implication that it was made by another person, was amended to read that it was allegedly made by him.

The case was adjourned for trial and it is likely to be heard before a deputy district judge.

Weeks was represented in court by solicitor Richard Hackfath and was allowed bail in his absence, having been excused from attending.