A MAN has been jailed after taking a knife into a Workington mental health clinic.
Peter Bracken, 46, was in possession of an implement with a four-inch blade when he attended the specialist Park Lake centre for an appointment on the morning of July 11.
Carlisle Crown Court heard Bracken told a nurse he had a knife with a four-inch blade which he refused to hand over. The drug user told police who were called to the clinic and took the knife away he had it “because I have to kill people”, and later insisted it was for his own protection.
Detailed background reports were provided about Bracken, of Newlands Gardens, Workington, who admitted having a blade in public. He had been diagnosed with a mental condition, although a psychiatrist suspected 30 years of habitual drug use were to blame for his offending.
Jailing Bracken for 10 months, Judge Peter Davies said staff at a clinic attended by vulnerable people “needed to be secure and protected”. “It was a time bomb,” Judge Davies said of the crime. “Any potential misuse of the knife could have led to a catastrophe.”
