APPRENTICE winner Joseph Valente had his flat raided by armed police after a bungling employee waved a toy gun in the air.
Dramatic footage posted online appeared to show the businessman, 30, holding his hands up after being confronted by cops.
An officer is heard telling the man to “keep those hands where we can see them”.
His employee Jack Driscoll later admitted to “messing around” on the balcony with a plastic gun, branding his actions as “stupid”.
Driscoll also apologised to Valente, who won Lord Sugar’s £250k investment in 2015, saying he was sorry for causing any “grief”.
On Facebook, the Italian entrepreneur posted: “It was silly thing to do but I know you didn’t mean to cause the neighbours any grief to which I know you’ve said sorry as it’s just a toy.
“Jack also apologised to the local police for wasting their time. But what nice guys and an incredible service so thank you.”
It comes as Valente’s plumbing firm was confirmed to have gone bust, owing almost £2million.
Valente ran a plumbing outfit called ImpraGas and despite claims it had gone bust, Joseph exclusively told The Sun Online that it was sold to another company.
He explained: “Impra Gas was sold in Jan 2020 to Rel Capital we did not go bust.
“We faced a challenging economic climate and decided to sell the brand, assets and intellectual property all staff 70 plus staff and many contractors kept their jobs.
“Customer warranties were taken on by the new owners and we created a newco that the creditors could continue to trade with which they did.”
He added: “Vbh Assests is a ltd company that was put into voluntary liquidation and yes it did owe creditors money but to secure the best possible future for the new business it was our only option.”
