KNIFE THREAT CLAIM BOGUS
Pensioner tried to frame neighbour:
A PENSIONER who falsely accused a neighbour of threatening him with a knife to try to get him evicted from his flat has been convicted of perverting the course of justice.
Roderick Axon from Llangefni, Anglesey was unanimously found guilty by a jury at Caernarfon Crown Court after he tried to frame his neighbour Kenneth Hughes.
Mr Hughes, 68, who lived in council-run flats in Llawr y Dref, was arrested and held for several hours by police after Axon accused him of twice holding a knife to his throat.
Mr Hughes was released on bail, before the case against him was dropped a few weeks later after CCTV showed that no such incident took place.
Judge Huw Rees bailed Axon until the end of the month to obtain a pre-sentence report from the probation service. One bail condition is that he doesn’t contact Mr Hughes.
He told the pensioner: “I am not promising I won’t send you to prison, I’m considering all the options. I want to know why a man of 67 who’s never been in trouble before felt compelled to behave in this way.”
Turning to the jury Judge Rees explained: “The circumstances are somewhat unusual. I need to know more.”
Prosecutor Jade Tufail told the court a search of Mr Hughes’ flat had failed to find a similar knife or pouch in which it was supposedly held.
She said to the jury: “It’s a case about false allegations made to the police which led to the arrest of an innocent man.”
During cross-examination Axon told Miss Tufail: “I don’t tell lies, I tell the truth, love. I wanted to have him evicted because he kept having a go at me all the time.”
After the verdict defence barrister Matthew Curtis said Axon suffered from diabetes and had some form of mental health problems.