Man found with knife arrested, charged and jailed in a little over 24 hours
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Ryan Green, 34, was spotted in Mansfield Market Place by officers shortly before midday on Tuesday afternoon.
After becoming suspicious of his behaviour officers carried out a search and found a small locking-style knife secreted in his wallet.
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Hide AdHe was immediately arrested and later charged several hours later with being in possession of a bladed article
Appearing at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday he pleaded guilty to the charge and was handed a six-month jail sentence.
The stiff sentence was influenced by a previous conviction Green had on his record for knife possession in March 2018.
Green, of no fixed address, had been with group of other people when he was approached by members of the county knife crime team – a specialist team whose members work across the county to take knives of the street.
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Hide AdInspector Sue Wain, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “This is a great result that reflects how seriously Nottinghamshire Police takes knife crime. Once somebody goes out with a knife in their possession it can take only a single moment for somebody to be killed or seriously injured.
“As a result, if we find somebody in possession of a knife there will be very severe consequences – especially if we then discover that they have previously been convicted of the same offence.
“I am delighted that Green was dealt with so quickly and hope that this case serves as a stern warning to others.
“The message really couldn’t be more clear. If we catch you in possession of a knife you will be punished, and you may well end up going to jail.”
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Hide AdNottinghamshire Police is engaged every day in various different proactive and reactive initiatives to reduce incidents of knife crime and to reduce the number of people who carry knives in public.
To this end the force now has two specialist knife crime teams operating in the city and county.
New figures for the financial year 2020-21 were released on Thursday and show that approach is paying off, as reported knife crime fell by 15 per cent compared to the same period last year.