A WORCESTER man who took a three-inch knife into the city centre for protection has been jailed.

Drug user Justin McAvoy hid the wooden-handled weapon in his sock when police approached him in Angel Place, but a doorman who saw the 39-year-old conceal the three-and-a-quarter-inch blade alerted officers.

Sentencing McAvoy at Worcester Magistrates Court, deputy district judge John Begley said: “There would never be a good time to commit this offence, but now is a particularly bad time. Even with your drug and alcohol problems you must have realised there is a lot going on in this country with people having knives. Knife crime has a high profile at present.

“When I hear you were in possession of an offensive weapon, almost certainly under the influence of drink and possibly drugs, and there is an incident sufficient enough for a member of the public to contact the police, alarms bells ring.”

Police were called when McAvoy and a female were seen arguing in the Cross, Worcester, shortly after midnight on Friday, September 19. The knife was hidden in his sock, along with a knife sharpener.

Julie Rosamond, prosecuting, said: “He claimed to have the knife for personal protection because he had heard another man was after him.

He said it was the first time he had taken a knife into town.”

Rob Macrory, defending, said his client had no intention of using the blade and, having spent time in custody awaiting his court case, was ready to quit drugs.

“He is getting to that age where these various addictions will either kill him or he needs to get rid of them.”

McAvoy, of Severn House, St John’s, Worcester, was jailed for 16 weeks.

On Monday, your Worcester News reported how District Judge Bruce Morgan had to dismiss a charge of possessing a knife in a public place because the double-bladed weapon’s blades were less than three-inches long.

The Criminal Justice Act 1988 states it is an offence to possess anything with a blade or point in a public place. But the public are allowed to carry pocket knives, if the blade is less than three inches long and they have a lawful reason to possess it.

As a result, the charge against 29-year-old Richard Jauncey, of Hopton Street, Dines Green, Worcester, was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.