Jail for clubber carrying a knife
SECOND NIGHTSPOT WEAPONS OFFENCE
Reporter A CLUBBER has been locked up after being caught carrying a weapon for the second time in Newcastle city nightspots.
Lewis Grainger was found to have a knife hidden in his pocket while inside Pink Room, on Westgate Road, one night in February – just months after he was caught carrying a knuckle duster in next door Powerhouse.
During his latest offence, the 26-year-old was searched by a suspicious door supervisor at the club and a six-inch blade was discovered concealed in his trousers, a court heard.
The police were called and Grainger was arrested but it soon became apparent it was not his first offence of carrying a weapon.
Newcastle Crown Court was told that, in May last year, he had been found in possession of a knuckle duster and, as it was his second offence, he now faced a minimum of six months behind bars.
Emma Dowling, prosecuting, said: “A door supervisor was in the Pink Room on February 3 and saw this defendant, who he recognised and, as a result of suspicions about what he might be doing, he said he wanted to search him.
“He asked the defendant if he would consent to be searched, to which he did so.
“The defendant emptied his pockets on the pavement, as requested. As the door supervisor searched him more, he put his hands in the defendant’s front pockets and removed a blackhandled kitchen knife, which was four to six inches in length. It was wrapped in blue kitchen roll.” The police were called and Grainger, of Mowbray Street, Heaton, was arrested. Ms Dowling told the court that Grainger was given an eightmonth prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, in May 2017 after he was found to be carrying a knuckle duster in Powerhouse. The prosecutor added: “It’s the second occasion in which he has been found to be in possession of a weapon in the city centre at night while in licenced premises.” Grainger pleaded guilty Emma Dowling to one count of possessing a bladed article at an earlier hearing at South East Northumberland Magistrates’ Court and was sent to Newcastle Crown Court for sentence.
Jailing him for a total of 15 months, Recorder Jo Kidd said: “This was in licensed premises in the early hours of the morning in the city centre.
“Possible consequences for members of the public had you produced that knife in terms of panic that would have arisen or potential injury cannot be underestimated.”
The court was told Grainger had put the knife in his pocket earlier in the evening when he had considered self-harming.
Jeff Taylor, mitigating, added: “He didn’t end up using it on himself. It’s important that it was wrapped in kitchen towel, so it was relatively safe when it comes to the doorman putting his hands in the defendant’s pockets.” A DATE has at last been set for a decision on a long-awaited new court building in Sunderland,
Ministers have announced that a decision on the future of the Sunderland Court Estate will be made by June 2018.
It promises to bring to an end more than eight years of uncertainty about the planned Centre for Justice at Farringdon Row.
Despite spending £2m of taxpayers’ money buying land and drawing up plans for a new building, the government has yet to take a final decision on the project.
Bridget Phillipson, Labour Member of Parliament for Houghton and Sunderland South, and Julie Elliott, Labour Member of Parliament for Sunderland Central, have secured a commitment from Lucy Frazer MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, that a decision is imminent.
The minister made the commitment during Justice Questions in the House of Commons, when she was pressed by Ms Phillipson to end the eightyear saga over the future of the estate.
Later the same day, she wrote to Ms Phillipson and Ms Elliott to confirm that a decision will be made by June 2018 following consideration of the viable options for meeting HM Courts and Tribunal Service’s future capacity requirements.
The MPs launched a campaign after Houghton Magistrates’ Court was closed in 2011 on the understanding that a new modern courts complex was to be built.
Ms Phillipson said: “Despite spending £2m on land and plans for a new state-of-the-art Centre for Justice, six successive Courts Ministers have dodged a decision on this project over the last eight years.
“As a result of this dithering, the Ministry of Justice has now been forced to spend a further £284,000 on carrying out urgent repairs to the dilapidated Sunderland Magistrates’ Court.
“This is simply not good enough for victims or their families.”
Ms Elliott said: “Instead of getting on with the construction of the modern courts facility we were promised, the Ministry of Justice then decided to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on urgent repairs to our 110-year-old magistrates’ court.
“This additional spending could have been avoided.”