A PARANOID man is not a danger to the public, despite being arrested in an Acomb street with three different weapons on him, a crown court judge has said.

Peter Clamp, 45, of Bretgate, off Walmgate, York, had two small balls inside a knotted sock, a six-inch steak knife and a metal tube with a blade inside that could be screwed on to one end to make a knife, Deborah Smithies, prosecuting, told York Crown Court sitting at Harrogate. All the weapons were in his pockets.

Police arrested him in Front Street, Acomb, after they were called to deal with a disturbance in the street at 5.10pm on March 18. They found him near to a group of three men who matched the description they had been given.

His barrister Chloe Fairley said Clamp would have used the weapons to defend himself. The reason he was carrying them was “effectively linked to his paranoia at the situation surrounding his home and in general”.

Recorder Tahir Khan QC, after checking Clamp’s criminal record and reading a pre-sentence report on him, said: “You are not somebody who appears to be a danger to the public, although there is this concern about the paranoia and it is linked to excessive alcohol consumption.”

The judge said there was no evidence that Clamp was involved in the disturbance that took police to Front Street.

He sentenced Clamp to a six-month prison term, suspended for 18 months on condition Clamp does 12 months’ supervision and observe a three-month nightly curfew between 7pm and 7am.

Clamp pleaded guilty to one charge of carrying an offensive weapon and two of carrying items with blades in public.

Miss Fairley said Clamp needed intensive help to deal with his alcohol dependency.

The court heard he had not had a problem when he was in work, but when he lost his job, he went on a downward spiral which led to his alcoholism, which led to his mental health problems.