Off-duty policewoman broke up five-on-one stand-off with knives in Northamptonshire neighbourhood

The sleeping officer was woken up at midnight in March this year to find trouble on her own doorstep in Honey Hill Drive, Deanshanger.

Northampton Crown Court heard on Tuesday (May 14) how the Northamptonshire Police officer watched as Samuel Mortimer, 25, from Milton Keynes, pulled out a five-inch lock knife in a bid to scare off the armed group of five.

The court heard the other five men reportedly also had knives and spanners with them, and one even brought an imitation handgun.

But this was when the officer stepped into the street and stood in the middle of the argument to keep anyone from getting hurt.

She was joined by her neighbours, who told the five men to get off their street before police arrived.

Meanwhile, Mortimer was convinced into handing over the knife and was arrested shortly after.

"You were lucky that no one was injured or killed," Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane later told Mortimer in court. "You went to that street expecting violence. But protecting yourself does not excuse carrying a knife in public."

The 25-year-old later told police the group had threatened him on social media earlier that night, and in a cocaine-fuelled rage he told the group to meet him on the street to "sort it out".

The court heard Mortimer brought the lock knife for "protection" and pulled it out during the argument after he was hit in the face with a spanner.

He broke into tears in court on Tuesday when Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane told him he was looking at eight months in prison - but she went on to suspend the sentence for two years and ordered him to complete rehab work for his cocaine addiction.

The judge told him: "Do not come to court again expecting a second chance, because this is it."