Drug user caught with long metal bar 'like a sword' behind former Hartlepool Carlton bingo hall

Police found Sam Barwick with the implement tucked under his jumper behind the former Carlton Bingo hall on York Road in November.

Prosecutor Jonathan Gittins told Teesside Crown Court: “Officers found a large metal bar which had been sharpened at one end almost akin to a sword.

"The defendant told officers he had it on him as he was being bullied.”

Barwick, 32, was also found with a small kitchen knife after being taken into custody, which he said he used to harm himself.

He also had a packet of non-prescription sleeping tablets.

Barwick admitted two counts of possession of a bladed article in public and possession of a class C drug.

He faced being sent to prison for at least six months under the law due to having previous offences for possessing offensive weapons as a youth.

But the judge said he would give him a chance after hearing about his personal circumstances.

Nigel Soppitt, mitigating, said until recently Barwick had been living in a tent and had a long-standing drug addiction.

Mr Soppitt said others bullied him and Barwick had the metal bar as a deterrent, and he had nothing to do with its sharpening.

Recorder Andrew Sutcliffe said he was persuaded it would not be right to jail him immediately.

Barwick, of Furness Street, Hartlepool, was given 20 weeks prison, which was suspended for 12 months, together with drug rehabilitation and 30 probation activity days.