A drug addict claimed he did not mean to pull a razor blade from his pocket as he tried to pay for his shopping at a Morrisons store. Richard Morris has been jailed after an alarmed cashier reported the blade in the Newport supermarket.
Police arrested the 52-year-old on November 4 last year at the Morrisons on Orb Drive in Lliswerry. His solicitor Rod Young told Newport Magistrates' Court: "The defendant says he had a knife, fork and razor blade in his pocket. He was at the checkout to pay for some items and reached into his pocket to get the money out. The money fell onto the conveyor belt and the razor blade was in his hand. He immediately put it back into his pocket but police were called because the cashier saw the razor blade."
Mr Young said his client has "no real reason or knowledge" as to why he was carrying the razor, knife or fork but "insists there was nothing sinister". The solicitor added: "It was more absent-minded than anything else."
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The cashier told officers that no threats had been made with the blade. A police search revealed Morris also had small amounts of Class A drug cocaine and Class C diazepam on him, which he said were for personal use.
Morris, of Hood Road, admitted possession of a blade in public as well as the drugs. He has recent convictions for shoplifting and going equipped for theft. In 2021 he received an 18-week prison term suspended for 12 months after carrying a blade on a previous occasion. The suspended sentence had expired by the time of the Morrisons offences but District Judge Sophie Toms said she had no option but to hand him an immediate jail term.
She told Morris: "The law is incredibly strict. When a person comes before a court for a second offence of a bladed article, the court must impose a minimum term of imprisonment for six months. I can make a reduction of 20%, down to 20 weeks."
Morris must also pay a £154 victim services surcharge which will be added to his existing court debts. You can read more of the latest Welsh court news here.
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