Knife man demanded woman’s coat before ‘walking with her’ through town

Jacob Davies, 26, approached the woman, who he turned out to know, and her uncle as they were walking along Bridge Street on April 20 this year.

Bolton Crown Court heard how he had been carrying a knife up his sleeve at the time.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Acker said: “Whilst on Bridge Street, the defendant walked over to them wearing a hat hiding his face”.

He then demanded the woman’s coat off her, searched it and after he could not find anything inside returned it apologising shortly afterwards.

The case was heard at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Anthony Moss)

But Ms Acker told the court how the woman could see that Davies had a knife up his sleeve, and he then walked alongside her and her uncle for around three minutes.

He then approached them again later that same day near the Bolton Interchange.

Davies was later tracked down by police at a pub on Deansgate where he was found to have been carrying a lock knife.

He gave no comment to most questions put to him by officers after being arrested.

But on being brought to court Davies, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article at a plea and trial preparation hearing.

He then confessed to attempted theft on what would have been the first day of his trial.

A victim impact statement read by Ms Acker said the woman had been left feeling “scared” and “vulnerable” and that she feared Davies might have ended up using the knife on someone else.

Louise Cowan, defending, said that Davies, who has six previous convictions for 13 offences, had earned credit for his guilty plea.

She pointed out that he had neither used nor attempted to use the knife and that there was “no suggestion” he had used it to threaten his victim.

Ms Cowan said Davies was still a “relatively young man” and that his crimes had been carried out over a “relatively limited period”.

Judge Jon Close accepted that Davies had not used the knife but remined him that “she knew it was there, you knew it was there”.

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He said that the defendant had left his victim “scared”, “intimidated” and unwilling to leave her home.

But Judge Close also noted that Davies had been living with unmedicated schizophrenia at the time and had been struggling with substance abuse.

He said he hoped the 26-year-old would continue to take steps to deal with these issues while in prison.

Judge Close jailed Davies for 18 months and made him subject to a two-year restraining order against his victim.

Source – INDIA TV