Man avoids jail despite knife threat

AN armed Northiam man who terrorised a family home threatening to stab the occupant narrowly avoided going to prison.

Elliott Moss, 22, of Springhill, Northiam, stood outside a home at Copelands Rise armed with a wooden axe handle and shouting threats following an argument with his girlfriend’s father.

Moss pleaded guilty to charges of threatening behaviour and possessing an offensive weapon when he appeared at Hastings Magistrates Court last week.

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Jeremy King, prosecuting, said: “Police were called to Copelands rise on Saturday April 21 at 10.11pm.

“Moss was outside a house screaming and shouting. An off-duty officer heard him shout: “I’ll get a knife and stab you”.

“He then returned with a kitchen knife and again threatened to stab the person in the house.

“He left then returned again with a wooden axe handle. The off duty officer tried to intervene but Moss said: “Do you want some too?”

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“He threw the wooden handle at the gate of the premises and left.

“No-one at the property was prepared to give a formal statement.

“He told police that it was an argument between him and his girlfriends’s father and that the axe handle was for self-defence.”

District Judge Peter Crabtree asked the Crown Prosecution Service why there had been no charge relating to the knife and was told it was decided not to pursue this. He asked for details of the line manager who had made that decision.

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The court heard that Moss had a previous conviction for battery.

Judge Crabtree sentenced him to 20 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months.

He told him: “You are extremely lucky. If there had been a charge relating to the knife you would be going to Crown Court and had I been sitting there you would be looking at a sentence of 12 – 18 months in prison.”

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