A MARTIAL arts instructor refused to be deterred from making a citizen's arrest even though a a knife was held to his neck and face, a court heard.

Stephen Browne, who also works as a nightclub bouncer, maintained a headlock on a youth he had spotted kicking at a shop window, prosecutor Michael Hammond told Harrogate magistrates.

When teenager Trevor Gill, 18, who had pulled the knife, learnt the police were on their way, he ran off, discarding his weapon as he did so.

But Gill was arrested later and pleaded guilty to possession of the knife and threatening behaviour outside the shop in Crab Lane, Harrogate - along with offences of affray, theft, handling stolen property and failing to surrender to custody committed on other occasions.

Presiding magistrate Pauline Ward told him his record and the extreme seriousness of the knife attack in a public place meant the Bench did not have sufficient powers of punishment. She sent Gill, of Olive Walk, Harrogate, on bail to York Crown Court for sentence.

Mr Hammond said Gill had been with two other people outside the shop when Mr Browne spotted the window being kicked and punched by one of them in a temper after an argument with his girlfriend. Mr Browne decided to make a citizen's arrest and after a struggle got the youth in a headlock.

Gill intervened and pulled a Stanley knife from his trouser pocket, telling Mr Browne: "Let go or I'll cut you." Mr Browne, in spite of fears for his own safety, held on while Gill moved the knife from his neck to his cheek, and repeated his threat.

Mr Hammond, who described Mr Browne's actions as highly commendable, said he had later told police: "I was shaken up and in definite fear for my own safety."

For Gill, Geoffrey Boothby, contended he had been trying to persuade Mr Browne to release his grip on a friend because he was having difficulty breathing and his face was turning blue.