A bar and restaurant owner from Lafayette, Colorado was jailed earlier this week after pumping four rounds into his Dell laptop, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports.

George Doughty, 48, announced to patrons of his Sportsman's Inn Bar and Restaurant that he intended to execute the portable. He then disappeared into his office, returning after thirty minutes with said machine and revolver. Warning punters in the bar to cover their ears, he let the Dell have it with four rounds at close range. Doughty allegedly celebrated this orgy of violence by hanging the grisly remains over the bar like a hunting trophy.

What provoked the gangland-style execution remains unclear, although it does give new meaning to the phrase "percussive maintenance".

Doughty faces charges of felony menacing, reckless endangerment and the prohibited use of weapons. Whether his actions constitute a breach of MS Windows XP licencing terms remains to be seen. ®