'Zombie' knife and drugs seized from South Shields property - self defence claim issued
A ‘Zombie’ knife and drugs were seized from a South Shields property by police.
A South Tyneside woman was caught with a zombie-style knife with a 13in blade when police called at her home on an unrelated matter, a court heard.
Claire Heppell, 42, was also found with a small amount of cannabis for personal use at her abode in Madras Street, Simonside, South Shields, on Sunday, January 26.
Heppell confessed to buying the blade from a local store for self-defence – and she also admitted to being a long-term user of cannabis.
South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard she used the class B substance to keep her life in order after moving away from heroin.
She has now been fined and had the drugs and weapon confiscated after pleading guilty to charges of possession of an offensive weapon in a private place and possession of cannabis.
Prosecutor Paul Anderson said: “The police go to her home address, and they arrest the defendant in relation to another matter that doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere.
“They search the premises, and they find some cannabis and a machete which has multiple holes in the blade, making it a zombie-style blade.
“It has a handle and there's a 13in blade, with seven or eight holes. She said that she has cannabis and uses it to keep off heroin.
“She says she bought the blade from a local shop and has it in the house for protection.
“I would request forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and the blade.”
David Forrester, defending, said: “She used to use heroin and has been off heroin for some time.
“She uses ‘the green’, as she names it. She keeps out of trouble. She was arrested at 11am yesterday and so has spent 24 hours in the cells.
“In relation to the knife, I’m not sure she knew that it was a zombie knife, but she shouldn’t have had it.
“I think you can keep it as fine, given her time in the cells and her lack of anything recent.”
District Judge Zoe Passfield fined Heppell £180, with a £72 victim surcharge, and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and weapon.