A “JEKYLL and Hyde” criminal has been jailed for having an axe in Workington town centre, and assaulting a member of the public, a police officer and a custody nurse.
Gary Walsh, 34, was disarmed by a good citizen he knew on the morning of January 18 after revealing he had a hatchet beneath his trouser waistband. Walsh was crying and repeatedly cuddled the man, Carlisle Crown Court heard.
“I didn’t know what he was planning on doing with it,” the man had after taking the implement.
On separate days the following week, Walsh assaulted a woman at a laundrette, a PC, a custody nurse and damaged a door.
Walsh, of South Street, Fletchertown, admitted possessing a bladed article, three assaults and criminal damage.
The court heard he suffered from post-traumatic stress and borderline personality disorders, was abusing street Valium and dealing with “significant family strains” at the time.
Mark Shepherd, defending, said: “He fully acknowledges he can be, in his own words, a Jekyll and Hyde person.”
As heavily-convicted Walsh was jailed for 12 months today (WED), he told Judge Nicholas Barker: “I’m going to do everything in my power to be rehabilitated once and for all.”
