A WORKINGTON man high on illegal drugs who caused £1,000 damage inside a pal’s flat after grabbing hold of a large kitchen knife has been handed a suspended prison term.
Mark Jonathan Eland, 28, had taken cocaine and amphetamine before arriving, uninvited, at the home of a female friend at around 10pm on May 1. He persuaded her to let him stay.
Initially Eland was fine as the pair chatted. But Eland then became “spooked” and turned aggressive after saying he’d heard banging on the front door. He expressed concerns people were outside the property but was told there was no one there. “Despite that the defendant continued to behave in a paranoid and aggressive manner,” prosecutor Kim Whittlestone told Carlisle Crown Court.
He took hold of a kitchen knife, began swinging it around and caused damage to a table, sofa, television, walls and a door, saying of the blade: “I’m going to stick this in anyone that gets in my way.”
After police were called, Eland leapt from a window at the flat but was arrested and later admitted an offence of affray. This put him in breach of a suspended jail term he was given by a judge last year for crimes which included illegal possession of knuckledusters.
Recorder Nicholas Clarke QC observed Eland, of Moorclose Road, Workington, had been hit hard by the death of his mother and found himself on a downward spiral. However, he was now receiving proper treatment for his mental ill health.
In response, Recorder Clarke suspended a four-months prison sentence for 18 months and ordered Eland to complete a rehabilitation requirement and a four-month night time curfew. Of his “bizarre behaviour” on the night, the judge said: “The effect was serious because of the impact it would have on the unfortunate victim.”
