'I apologise' - South Shields man caught with knife and drugs after running from police is given booze ban
A South Tyneside man is given a suspended sentence after being caught with a kitchen knife and cannabis in South Shields.
A South Tyneside man caught with a blade and drugs after running from police has been handed a suspended prison term and banned from boozing for three months.
Alan Thompson, 35, raised suspicions when he was seen wearing a Balaclava in the Chichester area of South Shields on the evening of Friday, June 26, a court heard.
Thompson, of Imeary Street, near Westoe, was confronted by officers but fled on foot after first cooperating by giving his name.
After being chased and stopped, he admitted to having a kitchen knife on him – and two bags of cannabis were also found during a frisk.
At an earlier hearing at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, he pleaded guilty to charges of possession of cannabis and of an offensive weapon in a public place.
His case was adjourned for reports – and when he returned to the same court, he was jailed for 26 weeks, a sentence suspended for 12 months.
The court was told it was the second time in 20 years he had been caught in possession of a bladed article.
Magistrates also imposed a monitored 90-day alcohol abstinence order and a six-week, 7pm to 7am housebound curfew.
Prosecutor Jade Houston said: “Officers were on Chichester Road, following a report of a male in possession of a knife.
“They found the defendant in West Stephenson Street. He provided his name but then ran down Westoe Road.
“He was stopped near a garage. He told the officers that he had a knife in his trousers. It was removed, and two bags of cannabis were found in a pocket.
“The blade was not used to threaten, but the offence has a six-month starting point.”
Thompson’s previous hearing was told he took the knife with him when he went to buy cannabis to calm himself after his brother was attacked.
Representing himself in court, Thompson said: “I hold my hands up for doing wrong and being in the wrong.
“I’ve been trying to get myself in a better place and getting my medication onto a better standing, and to push forward and make a better life for myself.
“I am genuinely making efforts. I apologise to everybody.”
Magistrates also sentenced Thompson to a 12-month community order, with 20 rehabilitation days, and he must pay a £187 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.