A CARLISLE man who is awaiting sentence for two theft offences dating back to November of last year was brought back to court after police caught him with a knife.

But a defence lawyer told Carlisle’s Rickergate court that 30-year-old Marc Austin had been carrying the knife for only a matter of minutes when police arrived at the scene and arrested him.

He immediately told the officers the knife was in his pocket.

The defendant, of John Street, Carlisle, pleaded guilty to having a bladed article - a folding pocket knife - in a public place with no reasonable excuse.

Andrew Gurney, mitigating, said the incident on January 15 came to light after the defendant went to the home of his former partner in Denton Holme.

The lawyer described what happened as “quite unfortunate.”

Mr Gurney said: “He’d called on his former partner, attending her address but when he got there the door was locked and he couldn’t get in.

“She told him that he could not come in then but then gave him some tobacco, some money, and the knife. The police turned up within minutes of this exchange. He believes that it was his former partner who called the police.

“He had only just taken the knife into his possession.”

The lawyer said this was not a case of an offender walking the streets with a knife in order to threaten people.  “He’s not somebody who would use a weapon,” said Mr Gurney. A background report had highlighted the defendant’s mental health issues.

They included schizophrenia and severe personality disorder.

The two earlier theft offences, both admitted by the defendant, related to offending in November. Austin stole stole hand tools worth £2,290 from a building firm and a pressure washer worth £500  from B&Q.

Magistrates set the sentencing date as January 30 and ordered that Austin should be assessed for his suitability to have a sentence that includes a mental health treatment requirement. 

He was granted bail on condition that he remains at his current address or at least updates the Probation Service if this changes before the next hearing.