Man who threw kitchen knife at police cries as he gets his first taste of prison

A 23-year-old Derby man sobbed and shook uncontrollably in court as he was handed his first taste of custody.

Aaron Anderson wiped tears from his eyes and hid his face under his grey sweatshirt after being told he would spend the next 22 weeks behind bars.

Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court heard he was twice caught carrying a kitchen knife on two consecutive evenings in the city.

On the first occasion he had it outside a pub and on the second he threw it at a police officer who then had to use CS gas to incapacitate him.

Handing Anderson a 44-week sentence, half of which he will spend in jail, District Judge Andrew Meachin said: “You had gone out on the first night telling police it was for your own protection. You then took one out on the second night and you are lucky the police officer was not injured.”

Lynn Bickley, prosecuting, said the two offences happened on November 30 and December 1. On the first occasion, concerned members of the public called police to The Wardwick, where they found Anderson, of Rauche Court, with a kitchen knife in his waistband.

Miss Bickley said after being arrested and bailed for that, police were called the following evening by the defendant’s family who were concerned he would throw himself in the River Derwent in an apparent suicide attempt.

She said: “They found him on a footpath, one of the officers was in plain clothes and could see something in his hands and asked him to show him what it was.

“The officer produced his CS gas spray and the defendant threw the knife at him which made contact with his thigh, but there were no injuries.”

Anderson pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a knife and one count of assaulting an emergency worker. He has one previous conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm for which he was handed a community order in September 2020.

Andy Oldroyd, mitigating, said his client has been struggling with mental health issues since splitting up from his long-term girlfriend in October.

He said: “He was under the influence of antipsychotic drugs at the time of these offences which explains his behaviour over those 42 hours. He threw the knife in panic at the police officer and he wants to put this matter behind him.”