Suspended sentence for man with folding knife

Luis Albuquerque, 49, of South Parade, admitted the offence and also two shoplifting offences, after he had been identified on cctv.

The court was told he had been identified following the shoplifting offences in Heron and Asda on January 16 and 21 and when police found him four days later, he was in possession of the knife which was attached to his belt.

He told them he did not know it was an offence to carry a knife, which he used to cut up food as he had trouble with his teeth.

The court was also told that a suspended prison sentence had ended just one day before he had committed the first of the shoplifting offences.

In mitigation, Beris Brickles said Albuquerque ate a lot of fruit and, because of his false teeth, he used the knife to cut it up first.

He said Albuquerque had no record of violence on his record, which was almost exclusively one of shop thefts.

He was given a four month prison sentence suspended for a year and ordered to pay £16 compensation to the stores he had stolen from.