A KNIFEMAN who threatened to stab a café owner in the street has been jailed for 10 months.

The owner of the Pig and Pastry in Bishopthorpe Road was suspicious of Simon Michael Hughes' activity in the back section of his coffee shop, said Matthew Collins, prosecuting.

So he chased him down the street and asked him to hand over the rucksack on his shoulder.

Hughes refused saying: "I don't like being followed."

"He then pulled out a knife from his jacket and said "Stop chasing me or I will stab you," said Mr Collins.

“The complainant feared he would be stabbed.

“The defendant then ran off accompanied by a dog on a lead and with the knife in his hand."

At the time Hughes was on a suspended prison sentence passed in May 2019 for a separate offence of carrying a knife in public.

Mr Collins told York Crown Court that also had involved an incident when Hughes was seen running away.

Hughes, 43, of Dale Street, South Bank, York, pleaded guilty to threatening someone with a knife.

He was ordered to serve four months of the suspended sentence plus six months for the offence on Bishopthorpe Road.

Mr Collins said Hughes had gone into the Pig and Pastry with another man in the early afternoon of February 26.

A member of the staff had seen him going to the back of the coffee shop and had alerted the owner who went to see what he was doing.

Hughes then left the pub and the owner pursued him.

"The defendant appeared agitated and panicky and kept saying "stop chasing me, stop chasing me"," said Mr Collins.

Eventually, he turned to face the cafe owner who asked him to hand over his rucksack.

Hughes told the cafe owner all he had done in the coffee shop was use its toilet.

He has 56 previous offences but none between 2005 and 2019.

His barrister Timothy Jacobs said Hughes had managed to avoid breaking the law during that period because he had formed a long-term relationship.

But when his partner died, he turned back to drug taking and offending.

Since being remanded in custody on February 28, he had managed to get himself clean of drugs.

He had also tackled the drug issues that had influenced his behaviour before his arrest.

He had, like all prisoners during the pandemic, been subject to a tougher regime in prison than in normal times.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Hughes: "You have proven to society and yourself you are capable of staying out of trouble.

"This is a sad fall from grace.

"I can understand the trauma you must have been through. But it doesn't allow you to take it out on society."

The judge took into account current prison conditions.