Man jailed for city knife threat

A homeless man who admitted threatening to kill a shop security guard with a knife has been jailed for 12 months.

Richard Crowe, 35, committed the offence at the Spar store on Belfast's Great Victoria Street last November.

The court heard Crowe was drunk and, when he was not allowed into the shop, he took out a knife and told a security guard, "I'll stick this in your head."

Crowe then fled and police arrested him in a nearby phone box and disarmed him.

As he was being arrested Crowe, of no fixed abode, struggled with an officer and threatened to assault him.

A defence barrister acknowledged his client had a lengthy criminal record and said the incident was "quite appalling".

The barrister told the court his client carried a knife for his own protection as he had been subjected to several beatings whilst living on the streets.

He added the incident was not pre-meditated but was a "spur of the moment", adding that Crowe "had no grudge against the security guard."