A man has admitted illegal public possession of a knife and knuckleduster, but was late arriving at court due to a sat nav error.
When he did finally enter the Carlisle Crown Court dock, 58-year-old John Sloan — a man of previous good character — faced two charges.
Sloan admitted the unlawful possession in a public place of both a bladed article and offensive weapon: a knife and knuckleduster, respectively.
Through his solicitor, he submitted a formal basis for guilty pleas to offences which were both committed at Wyndham Place in Egremont on April 7.
Sloan appeared in court more than 30 minutes after the scheduled 11am start time, and was due to have arrived at the Earl Street building 15 minutes before that.
His lawyer, Sean Harkin, told Judge Nicholas Barker: “The defendant apologises for his late attendance at court. He did set off in good time but unfortunately there was some kind of sat nav error; a wrong postcode.”
When the case was earlier called on, Mr Harkin told the judge he understood the vehicle had travelled from West Cumbria and entered the M6, heading towards Gretna.
Judge Barker adjourned the case for a probation service pre-sentence report scrutinising the defendant’s motivation for committing the crimes and examining his personal circumstances.
Sloan, of Main Street, Egremont, is due to be sentenced at the crown court on July 7.
“They are serious matters,” Judge Barker told him. “Being in possession of such items is always concerning to these courts.”
