Knifeman’s shocking court outburst
JON MACPHERSON
ATHUG launched a astonishing tirade against a judge after he was locked up for threatening workmen with a knife.
Ryan Tatton, of Waterfoot, was sentenced to six months in jail after a courth heard that he had returned with a knife and ‘thrust’ it towards workmen after earlier joking with them. When handed his sentence by Judge Beverley Lunt, he shouted: “Wow wow, I’m going to jail?
“You can’t take me down. I’m not going to jail. Are you taking the mick?
“Are you mad? You will see.
“The second I set foot in jail somebody is going to get taken out. That’s because of you.
“You are not sending me back to jail. You think I care?
“Move away from me right now.”
Five security guards were called to the dock before the court room was cleared.
The court had earlier been told that on the day of the incident Tatton had got into an argument with his girlfriend in Bacup town centre before joking with workmen on St James Street, a court heard.
However Tatton later became ‘riled’ and returned with the knife.
Tatton, 29, of Booth Crescent, Waterfoot, pleaded guilty at Burnley Crown Court to threatening a person with a bladed article.
Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, told the court how the knife incident happened on August 11 this year.
She said: “It appears that at about 11am the defendant, who even at that time had been drinking alcohol, appeared to be having an argument with his girlfriend.
“He then came back to the scene and had what was described as a small knife in his hand and was pointing it towards the workmen on St James Street thrusting it towards them.”
The court heard how Tatton fled the scene and was later arrested by police. Adam Roxborough, defending, said Tatton ‘has drinking issues which leads to misbehaviour and violence’.
He told the court: “He accepts that he had been binge-drinking as a result of stress he was feeling because his sister had been seriously injured in a road traffic accident. The reality is that unless he properly address his drinking he will continue to offend in this way and the sentences will get longer and longer. He has never been on a programme which deals with this sort of issue. He has a real desire to draw away from drinking.”