A troubled man who pulled a knife on an Uber delivery driver in central Carlisle before making a chilling “stab” threat has been given a 10-month prison sentence.
The city’s crown court heard the victim was parked up outside the Crown & Mitre Hotel at 7.30am on April 22, talking to another driver, when he was approached by 45-year-old Matthew Adam Neale.
Neale, on crutches, was rebuffed in his attempts to obtain a lift home and then borrow money to buy a scratch card. As the disinterested driver became uncomfortable, Neale then made a bizarre bid to sell him a turbo car part for £180 and insisted he take his telephone number.
“As this was happening, the defendant produced a knife from his jeans and said words to the effect of ‘if you don’t give me money for the turbo part, I will give this to you,” said prosecutor David Farley. “The driver thought he was going to be stabbed.”
The driver sought refuge in a nearby food shop while warning he would call police. He spoke of being shocked and frightened at the time but reported no ongoing psychological impact.
Neale, meanwhile, had wandered off before entering a barbers and as he asked for bus fare money the blade was seen in his back pocket.
Neale was arrested and later admitted a charge of threatening with a bladed article.
Tim Evans, defending, said of Neale: “He is really sorry he scared him. He knows he has to take responsibility for his own actions.”
Judge Nicholas Barker heard of Neale’s previous convictions — for dangerous driving, harassment and making malicious communications — and considered a comprehensive report from a doctor. This concluded his difficulties stemmed from a brain injury sustained in a climbing accident.
The judge told Neale, previously of Botchergate, his behaviour in April clearly demonstrated “the bizarre thinking and disjointed thought processes that you have.
“He undoubtedly became nervous and fearful,” he said of the driver. “Here you were with a knife, acting bizarrely and irrationally so at that point he was far from certain as to what the outcome was going to be and made himself scarce.”
Neale was jailed for 10 months and had already served two-and-a-half months on remand, the court heard.
