Spitting row led to man snatching knife

Suspended jail sentence after taking weapon in front of police chief

A MAN who stole a knife from a sandwich shop in front of Oldham’s police chief has escaped being jailed.

Chief Supt Tim Forber was in the queue at Chambers Sandwich Shop in George Square with PC Jonathan Bott when Ian McFarlane ran in and took the 6in kitchen knife from an open dishwasher.

Officers chased and arrested the 33-year-old outside the shop on May 12.

McFarlane, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to charges of racially aggravated public order and carrying an offensive weapon at a previous hearing at Oldham Magistrates’ Court on May 13.

Yesterday, District Judge James Prowse, sitting at the same court, sentenced him to two months in prison, suspended for 12 months, with a nine months supervision order and 100 hours unpaid work.

He also has 28 days to pay court costs of £85.

The court heard how the day before the incident, Mr McFarlane had an argument with his twin brother which had made him upset.

He had gone off for the night to some woods but was arrested by police and spent the night at Oldham police station.

After being released without charge the following day, an Asian man spat on the ground by Mr McFarlane’s feet outside the sandwich shop.

An argument began between the two men during which Mr McFarlane used racist language before grabbing the knife.

Justine Whitworth, defending, told the court yesterday that the man had threatened to stab McFarlane so he had taken the knife just to frighten him.

She said: “Completely irrationally, he accepts he walked into the sandwich shop and picked up the knife but would never have used it.

“The man had indicated he was going to stab him.”

Miss Whitworth said McFarlane, a chef by trade, had battled alcohol problems for some time but had been sober for five weeks until the night before the incident.

Now living back at home, he was due to get a full-time job at a restaurant in Rochdale and his family was trying to get him involved with alcohol abuse services.

She said: “If the alcohol problems can be tackled, I’m hopeful there won’t be a repeat of the event.”

District Judge Prowse said: “You had a knife in a public place. You were taking it into a public place in circumstances where you were angry.

“By your own account, it wasn’t hidden about your person. You took it with the intention of showing it to someone to frighten them.”

However, he said he had taken into account that McFarlane did not have many convictions, had no history of violence, had pleaded guilty and was hugely remorseful.