Man spotted near Northampton war memorial with bread knife and hammer spared jail

Members of the public rang the police in November last year when they saw Simon Lawrence by the memorial in Abington Square with the blade in one hand and the hammer in the other.

Northampton Crown Court heard yesterday (February 18) how when police arrived they found a member of the public had taken the potential weapons off the 23-year-old and put them down in a bag.

The officers arrested Lawrence, who reportedly smelled of liquor.

Lawrence pleaded guilty to possessing a blade in public.

But His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo found that the 23-year-old - of no fixed abode - would not benefit from being sent to jail and instead offered him rehabilitation work.

The judge said to Lawrence: "If I were to suspend your sentence and gave you the chance to work with people and sort out your problems, what would you say?"

Lawrence replied: "I would say thank you."

The judge said: "Then that's what I'm going to do."

Lawrence was handed a four-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months, a six-month alcohol treatment order and 40 days of rehab work.