KNIFEMAN THREW WEAPON ON ROOF AFTER WOMAN SPOTTED IT
He had blade in public 5 weeks after release for similar offence
KNIFE-WIELDING Tony Jackson is back behind bars after being seen walking up and down a road in the city with a six-inch blade in his hand.
The 36-year-old was jailed last November after he admitted three charges of possessing a knife in public. But just five weeks after his release he was seen in Hamil Road, Burslem, with a knife.
Police were called and he threw the blade on a roof.
But the witness saw where he threw the weapon and it was recovered by officers. Now Jackson has been jailed for eight months at Stoke-ontrent Crown Court.
Prosecutor Katie Fox said a woman was in Hamil Road, Burslem, at 4.20pm on April 14 when she saw Jackson holding a knife with a six-inch blade in his right hand.
Miss Fox said: “She watched for several minutes as he walked up and down the road. He was sitting on a wall and going in and out of a garden.
“The defendant ran off down Hamil Road and re-appeared without the blade. He was arrested at the scene. The witness had seen him throw the knife on to a roof and the police recovered it.” Jackson, formerly of Knight Street, Tunstall, initially denied having carried the knife and denied it was his. He pleaded guilty to possession of a knife in public.
The court heard Jackson, who has 42 previous convictions for 71 offences, was sentenced to eight months in jail in November for three charges of possessing a knife in public. He was released from that sentence on March 8 – five weeks before he committed this offence.
Lesley Barnett, mitigating, said her client had taken his own medication and a person had been moved into the same accommodation as him who was behaving quite strangely. She said Jackson panicked and ran away. Miss Barnett said: “He tried to throw the knife.”
She said he was fully co-operative with the police, adding: “He was in the street with a knife. He has issues with his behaviour and feels he needs a lot of support in relation to his decision making.”
But Judge David Fletcher said this offence was ‘almost identical’ to the previous matter and jailed Jackson.
He said: “I do not know what goes through your head when you take up a knife. But the law states if you have a previous conviction for possessing a knife in a public place you have to have a six-month sentence.”