MAGISTRATES have opted against an immediate prison sentence for a man found with knives in the street.

Alfie Bould was discovered with two blades last month on a residential street.

The 21-year-old appeared before Warrington Magistrates’ Court where he admitted an offence of possessing a knife in a public place.

But the court decided that rehabilitation outside of a custodial setting was the best way of dealing with the matter.

The facts of the offending were outlined by Christopher Howard, of the Crown Prosecution Service, who explained that it occurred on October 19.

Bould was caught on Marsh House Lane in possession of two kitchen knives ‘without good reason or lawful authority’.

Before passing sentence, magistrates remarked that the severity of the defending meant that the offence crossed the custodial threshold.

This was due to this being a second offence by the defendant of the possession of a knife, and him displaying an ‘escalating’ pattern of offending.

However, they chose to suspend the prison sentence due to a determination of him being a ‘real prospect for rehabilitation’, and because he is already working with the probation service.

Bould, of Bewsey Street near the town centre, was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 18 months.

He must also abide by an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement for 120 days, complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay costs to the Crown Prosecution Service of £120.

In addition, the court approved an order for the forfeiture and destruction of the kitchen knives seized from him.