Man seen with blade sent to prison

A FILTON man declined a drugs prescription told a health centre receptionist: “You will need to call armed police here in a bit.”

Stefan Poyster was seen to have a blade when he waited at a hatch window to speak to staff at the Homeless Health Service in Jamaica Street.

When told his methadone script would be sent to his allocated pharmacy he made the threat and left. Police found him in a nearby park, and a knife nearby.

Poyster, 34, of Seventh Avenue, pleaded guilty to possessing a blade. He appeared for sentence at Bristol Crown Court on Monday.

Judge Mark Horton jailed him for eight months and told him to pay a £156 victim surcharge.

Robert Yates, prosecuting, said after Poyster made the threat that the centre would need to call armed police, police called in found him in nearby King Square park.

Mr Yates told the court: “Police arrived and the defendant crouched down and threw the knife away. Police found the knife nearby, the defendant was arrested but there was no interview.”

The court heard Poyster had three previous knife-related convictions among offence. Emily Heggadon, defending, described her client’s mental health at the time as “precarious” and the incident followed him being sectioned under the Mental Health Act after he self-harmed.