A JUDGE has jailed a man for possessing a blade during a violent Workington bookmakers flashpoint – and warned: “People who carry knives in public get locked up.”
Carlisle Crown Court heard how trouble flared between Craig Graham and Liam Hargreaves – his ex’s new partner – inside a William Hill shop at Finkle Street on the afternoon of March 28.
Amid pushing and shoving between the men, 28-year-old Graham produced a Stanley-type knife which was on a key ring and had a “three-inch blade”. He swiftly put the item back in his pocket, before the confrontation moved to a toilet in the building.
But the incident prompted the store manager to press a panic button and alert police. Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson said: “He said he did that for the safety of himself and also the other customers who were there.”
Graham admitted bladed article possession and was sentenced this morning (MON). His barrister, Brendan Burke, said the knife was “flashed as a deterrent and put away” on an occasion when “the aggression came to him”.
But Graham, of Victory Crescent, Maryport, was jailed for eight months by Judge James Adkin. “The problem here is 100 people stabbed to death this year (in the U.K.) because of knives,” the judge observed. “The general public feels enough is enough.”
Judge Adkin added: “The message needs to go out: people who carry knives in public get locked up.”
Hargreaves was said to have been fined for a public order offence at a separate court hearing.
