A MAN caught with a kitchen knife in his pocket claimed he had only been using it to throw at an empty lager can.

Bolton Crown Court heard how police officers were called to Vernon Street, Bolton, after reports of a domestic argument in the street between two men and two women.

Andrew Long, prosecuting, told the court how they found a six-inch kitchen knife in Alexander Buckley’s pocket.

Buckley told them he had found it in an alleyway nearby and was using it to throw at a lager can because he was bored as his girlfriend argued with her ex-partner.

He had not used the knife to threaten anyone and was going to drop it down a grid.

Buckley, aged 38, of Kensington Court, Bolton, pleaded guilty to possessing the knife in public.

Jane Deakin, defending said Buckley, a heroin addict for the last 22 years, was drunk at the time of the incident. She added: “If he hadn’t been intoxicated at the time he would not have behaved in this reckless, silly manner.”

Judge Martin Allweis sentenced Buckley to three months in prison, suspended for 12 months and ordered that he be subjected to a three-month, electronically-tagged curfew from 7pm to 7am.

“When you are drunk and you have a knife, things can get out of hand,” said Judge Allweis.