A "LAWLESS" knifeman who wrestled with a policeman in a busy York road has been jailed for more than two years.

Dean Richard Edwards, 28, had a 12-inch kitchen knife in his waistband when he resisted arrest while defying a court-imposed curfew on September 26.

CCTV operators spotted Edwards acting suspiciously in Exhibition Square at about 10.50pm and PC Rich Farrar pulled over to speak to him, finding him "verbally aggressive and confrontational", and "very evasive", so decided to search him.

PC Farrar said: "I went to search the back of his waistband and that’s when he launched himself backwards. I got hold of him and he ended up on top of me. I wrestled him and I got on top of him, but all that time I didn’t know what he had on him."

York Press:

PC Farrar said he heard metal hit the floor, and thought it was his baton, but followed Edwards into the road and tackled him to the floor.

He was unable to reach his cuffs as traffic swerved around them, until 49-year-old Andy Haigh got out of a taxi to help.

Mr Haigh - a professional cage fighting judge from Leeds - was in York with his partner Diane for a birthday celebration.

He said: "They were rolling around and cars were swerving round them, they didn’t even stop. A bunch of people were stood watching."

Mr Haigh is trained in Muay Thai boxing and jujitsu, and put Edwards in a restraint hold until he was handcuffed, then got back into his taxi as backup arrived.

York Press:

As Edwards was put into a police vehicle, PC Farrar went to retrieve his kit, and realised the metal he heard falling to the ground was a 12-inch butchers knife with an eight-inch blade.

He said: "I’m into my 23rd year on the force now and there have only been a handful of occasions where I’ve been concerned about my safety, and thought how it could have been so different. Watching it back gives me the shivers.

"I’m just lucky it fell out of his clothing. Had it still been in his waistband there’s always the chance he could have got to it. That’s always going through my mind."

Mr Haigh said: "I’m surprised seeing it back, at how violent things were when he was struggling with the officer. I just did what I did, didn’t think about it, got back in the cab and got on with things. I would expect anyone to do the same, you don’t want to see someone get hurt.

"I’m just happy to have helped the officer out. It’s a birthday night out to remember. Only downside was we spend so long in A&E we didn’t get back to the hotel until 8am in the morning for breakfast. We never made it out that night, but it made for a good story and an eventful weekend."

York Press:

York Crown Court heard yesterday Edwards, of Lucas Avenue, Clifton, had previous convictions for carrying weapons in public and assaulting police officers. His actions breached a 15-month suspended prison sentence for having sex with a 14-year-old girl, and a four-week suspended prison sentence imposed for criminal damage. He was also on a community order for assaulting another police officer.

He pleaded guilty to carrying a knife in public and resisting a police officer, but his solicitor Richard Minion said he had not threatened PC Farrar with the knife or used it, and had had the knife on him "for a very short period of time".

York Press: PC Farrar discovers the knife as he retrieves his gear from the scene.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst told Edwards: "You are someone who is essentially lawless and you are antisocial.

"Had the police officer not been alert to speak to you, there must be very big concerns about what you would have done with that knife, had you not been stopped."

Edwards was ordered to serve both suspended sentences, plus three months for the assault for which he got the community order, 12 months for carrying the knife, a total of 30 months. He was given a one-month concurrent sentence for resisting a police officer.

Mr Haigh said: "I couldn’t see him struggle on his own.

"He was a lone police officer trying to make an arrest and I just helped him out. Someone was going to get hurt."

PC Farrar said: "The incident was a reminder of the risks that myself and police officers face in serving and protecting the public every day here in York, across the county and the country. I want to say thank you to Andy, who was going about his normal evening and could easily have turned a blind eye."