A YOUNG Leamington man was caught with a knife when he and his friends were spoken to after running out in front of a police car in Kenilworth.
And after hearing that it was the second time Alex Russell had been convicted for having a knife in public, a judge at Coventry Crown Court jailed him for six months.
The 19-year-old, of Newbold Street, who was on licence from an earlier sentence at the time, had pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article.
Prosecutor Gary Cook said at around 11pm on October 18 police officers were on patrol in Rouncil Lane, when they saw three young men running.
The trio ran in front of the police car, so the officers stopped them to question them.
Russell was seen to drop a pink-handled kitchen knife with a 3.5-inch blade which, when he was arrested, he said he had been using earlier to prepare food.
And Jane Brady, defending, pointed out he ‘genuinely did not mean to have it on him,’ when he went out that night, and had not brandished it or used it to make any threats.
Recorder Anupama Thompson observed Russell had ‘a shocking record’ for someone of his age, and told him the offence was aggravated by the fact he was on licence from a custodial sentence at the time.
