Drunken burglar ‘armed to the teeth’
Kitchen knife
A YOUNG man who was caught with two knives and a crowbar while on bail for burglaries has been jailed for 13 months.
A judge told Philip Wells that carrying weapons in public places led to a danger of serious crime occurring.
“You were found in a public place armed to the teeth. Serious injuries and occasionally fatalities occur. Once someone is armed with a weapon, someone else wants to arm themselves and the situation escalates out of all proportion,” said Judge Norman Wright.
“You will be aware, as is the public, about knife crime and that is why there has to be a custodial sentence,” he added.
Wells, then of Burns Avenue, Leigh, pleaded guilty to possessing two knives and a crowbar, burgling two garden sheds and resisting arrest.
Desmond Lennon, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that on October 24 Wells was with others who broke into two garden sheds in Ormskirk Road, Up Holland and stole property totalling almost £800.
Fortunately, their raids were interrupted by police who arrested them and the stolen goods were recovered. On November 5 while on bail he was involved in an altercation with another youth and then on seeing a gang of youths approaching he feared he was going to be attacked and smashed a car windscreen in the hope this would lead to the police being summoned.
Officers were sent to the scene and saw 22-year-old Wells walking along Wigan Road, Leigh, with a crowbar in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other.
When they approached he swore at them and was seen to throw the knife into bushes.
He ran at a large group of youths with the crowbar over his head, said Mr Lennon.
Officers tried to disarm him and he dropped the weapon but then produced a craft knife from his trouser pocket and was arrested.
William Swalwell, defending, said that Wells, who had drunk eight cans of strong lager before the November 5 incidents, accepted that he had “got himself into a very deep mess”.
“He knows he will get an immediate custodial sentence and wants to put these matters behind him,” said Mr Swalwell.
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Thursday 23 May 2013
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