A DRINK-driver found with a large knife in his car after initially speeding away from police in Carlisle has been jailed.
Shaun Peter Little, 25, was found to be distressed when he did stop the Vauxhall Vectra close to Brunton Park football ground on Warwick Road at around 5am on March 31. He told officers he’d been drinking “all night”, confessing: “I’m steaming.”
Carlisle Crown Court heard Little, whose relationship had broken down, also made a “drunken” and “out of turn” comment that he was heading to see his ex to “knock her head off” – a comment described by his lawyer as “drunken” and “out of turn”.
A large kitchen knife was seized from a passenger footwell of the car, and Little was found to be more than twice the legal drink-drive limit. He told police the blade was there to “self-harm”.
He admitted drink-driving, illegal knife possession and breaching his bail by contacting his former partner.
Judge James Adkin noted Little’s “background of depression and anxiety”, and that his “serious mental health issues” had “spiralled out of control after the relationship ended. His lawyer also spoke of how him being remanded into custody following the bail breach had been a “complete wake-up call”.
But, jailing Little, of Aglionby Street, Carlisle, for eight months, Judge Adkin said: “The message needs to go out that people who carry knives almost inevitably get sent to prison.”
