Man, 52, carried kitchen knife to protect himself against 'kids' from Leeds estate after iPhone robbery

David Sergeant was stopped by police on Bailey’s Lane in Seacroft on February 24 after reports of him kicking the door to a nearby block of flats to gain access to where his partner lived.

Leeds Crown Court heard that the 52-year-old was in drink and confessed to officers that he was carrying the blade in his jacket pocket. He said he forgot it was there but said he had it for protection.

He said just a weeks before he had been robbed by a gang of youths who took his iPhone and said it was prevent it happening again, but had no intention of using it.

Prosecutor Benjamin Bell said Sergeant, of Ramshead Heights, Seacroft, has 23 previous convictions for 41 offences, including carrying a knuckle duster from 2006. Under the two-strike rule for carrying offensive weapons, it was suggested that Sergeant could face a mandatory six-month jail sentence.

Mitigating, Zarreen Alam-Cheetham said Sergeant pleaded guilty to carrying an offensive weapon in public at the earliest opportunity and was fully compliant with the police. She said despite his extensive record, he had largely stayed out of trouble between 2015 and 2021.

She said: “He has a poor record, I can’t get away from that, but he has tried exceptionally hard to turn his life around. He assures me he has learned his lesson and regrets putting the knife in his pocket that day.”

She said that he lives on his own and has a problem with alcohol, drinking eight cans of lager a day.

Judge Neil Clark gave him six months’ jail, but opted to suspend it for 12 months, telling him there were “exceptional circumstances” which allowed Sergeant to keep his liberty. This included the relatively-low number of offences committed in recent years and that the knuckle duster offence was 17 years old.

As part of the suspended sentence, he ordered him to carry out 15 days rehabilitation activity requirement (RAR) days and and enrol on a six-month alcohol treatment programme.