A ROCKWELL Green man who pulled a ten-inch knife on a man he found at the home of a girlfriend in ‘a moment of madness’ has been jailed.

He was told that carrying a knife is a serious offence and when it is used as a threat, ‘the court must treat it with the seriousness it deserves’.

Sean Carroll, 21, of Greenway Road, wanted to be in a relationship with a 17 year old girl but when he went to call a rival, Thomas Mearing, opened the door, Taunton Crown Court was told.

Nikki Coombe, prosecuting, said Carroll pulled a butcher’s knife from his pocket and waved it around in front of him. He was told ‘you don’t need that to sort this out’ and there was a struggle in which he received a cut to his leg and Mr Mearing was left with a small cut near an eye.

Harry Ahuja, defending, said the two men had been friends for years and were both friends with the same girl. Carroll was introverted and unable to deal with his emotions. He had difficulties with thinking skills and and needed help with problem solving.

Mr Ahuja added: “It was a one-off moment of madness. He would struggle in a custodial environment and needs help to integrate into society.”

Sentencing Carroll to custody with a two-year restraining order not to contact Thomas Mearing, Recorder Malcolm Galloway said he had taken a knife in anticipation of an altercation. His victim answered the doorbell carrying a bottle of alcohol he had been drinking from and which he quickly discarded.

“You then entered into an altercation with him, lunging with the knife towards his face and punching with the knife in your hand’” he said. “He was not armed and it’s pure luck that you or him was not seriously harmed. It’s known how easily these incidents escalate by bad luck or bad judgement into death or serious injury.”

It was a serious offence ‘observed by others who would no doubt have been shocked to see a young man waving a butcher’s knife around, and also by a 13 year old girl’.

The courts took a serious view of knives, he added. And when they were used to threaten, the courts ‘have to treat it with the seriousness it deserves’.

Carroll had earlier admitted threatening a person with a blade and the judge said that if he had been convicted after a trial the appropriate sentence would have been 16 months. He took account of his age and guilty plea at the earliest opportunity in reducing the sentence.

A pre-sentence report had said he was shocked to find himself in court, said the judge. “It should have been shocking to you at the time that you even thought about arming yourself with a knife. It needs to be brought home to young people like you that it’s unacceptable and dangerous to go out arming yourself with knives.”

In sentencing him to seven months, the judge said he took no pleasure from it and Carroll wiped away tears as he turned from the dock.