BROKE and broken-hearted, having just split with his girlfriend, former Melbourne armed security guard Aaron John Purvis didn’t have the $3000 needed to renew his work and gun licences.

So he manually changed the expiry of “2015” to “2018” on his documents before applying for jobs.

The keen body builder couldn’t have imagined then that he’d soon make national media headlines - or that he’d be spending a year behind bars for his trouble. Images of Purvis, 27, were splashed across newspapers after he was spotted walking through Bourke Street mall in tactical gear with a gun days after January’s fatal rampage through the city.

On Tuesday, the daily gym-goer wiped away tears as magistrate David Starvaggi jailed him for 12 months with no parole period.

The magistrate slammed the former VFL player’s behaviour, saying his actions struck “right at the very heart of the integrity of the private security industry”.

Purvis, who played suburban football at several Melbourne clubs and in the VFL for Casey was previously a licensed security worker and gun licence holder. The problem was, those licences expired in March 2015.

Returning from interstate in 2016 he didn’t have the funds to renew the licences, so he fudged the document’s dates.

Purvis ended up working some 62 shifts while unlicensed, signing out a gun on each occasion.

His lawyer Michael Kuzilny told the court that on the day in question, Purvis had just finished a cash in-transit job at an ATM in Melbourne’s CBD. It was just after midday on January 25, only days after the Bourke Street tragedy that claimed the life of six people and injured dozens more. Purvis decided to pay his respects by visiting a memorial set up for victims, but was spotted by a journalist in his tactical clothing, cargo pants, and with a gun and holster strapped to his thigh.

“Good people can make mistakes when they’re going through some tough times,” Mr Kuzilny said.

But Mr Starvaggi regarded Purvis’ offending as “extraordinarily serious”. “He falsified everything. It’s almost like he’s living a complete charade of a life,” he said.

“On the back of what was a very raw time for Melbourne citizens ... there’s you parading around in tactical gear with a firearm strapped to your side.” Purvis pleaded guilty to 160 charges including possessing a handgun without a licence, working as a security guard without a licence and using false documents.

He also pleaded guilty to drug possession after police searched his house and found two vials of steroids.