A man found himself in hot water after picking up a discarded blade and polishing it with a stick outside an Esso petrol station.
David Taylor was arrested on June 25 2022 after being spotted toying with a large saw outside Tesco Esso Express on Queens Drive at around 8.45pm. The 42-year-old, who 5 previous convictions for 57 offences, including several for possession of offensive weapons, pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article.
At Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, July 11, Judge MP Taylor told him: "If you see a saw in a public place, if you don't know you shouldn't have touched it, I don't know what's going wrong with your brain to be honest, because you've been to prison for this in the past."
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Prosecutor Paul Blasbury said police had been alerted to the situation by a woman at the petrol station, who noticed Taylor sitting on the pavement with a black rucksack and the blade in his hands. He said: "He pulled out a small saw inside a sheath and started examining it. As a result, the lady, sitting in a car, phoned her mother to say there was a male outside holding this article. They called the police."
Ken Heckle, defending, said Taylor, of Newsham Drive, Tuebrook, had made good progress since being released from prison in 2016 and had moved into new accommodation.
He said: "Almost all of his previous like offending was when he had class A drug addictions. He has tested every month now and he's negative for class A drugs. He's got that under control. "
Judge Taylor accepted there was "no evidence (Taylor) threatened anybody" with the blade, and no suggestion that he wanted to use it to hurt someone. He sentenced him to eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months, and a four-month curfew.
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