Mansfield knife man jailed for second offence under tough new laws
A homeless Mansfield man who was caught with a knife for the second time has been locked up for six months, magistrates have ruled.
Ryan Green was one of around 12 people sitting on the town hall steps in Mansfield Market Place, on Tuesday, July 20, said prosecutor Annelli Pritchard.
"Some of them ignored the officers and others begrudgingly engaged," she said, adding the officers were responding to complaints about mamba use in the town centre.
Green claimed he had nothing on him but a small Stanley knife was found in his wallet.
The court heard he has seven previous convictions for 20 offences, and was last in trouble in March, when he was jailed for a number of offences, including assaulting a police officer, theft and burglary.
He also has a previous conviction for possessing a blade from March 2018.
"Unfortunately he falls foul of the new legislation," Ms Pritchard said, adding that a second knife crime offence carries a custodial sentence of no less than six months.
Jennifer Wells, mitigating, said Green assumed the officers were asking about mamba when he told them he had nothing on him.
She said he found the small knife a few days earlier and forgot all about it.
"He has self-referred to Change Grow Live to deal with his alcohol misuse," she said. "He is someone trying to make changes in his life. It would be unjust to impose that sentence."
Green, 34, of no fixed abode, admitted possession of the knife when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates Court, on Wednesday.
He was jailed for six months and ordered to pay a £128 surcharge.