Hartlepool neighbourhood 'ambassador' armed himself with knife to try to break up street fight

Alan Dixon, 62, grabbed the blade from his kitchen after the men refused to leave the area, Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard.

The court was told that Dixon was seen as a kind of ambassador for the street where he has lived for over 10 years.

He said in the last few years the street has become “chaotic” with anti-social behaviour and people carrying weapons.

But he was arrested and charged with possession of a blade in public after he admitted to police what he had done when they arrived.

Dixon also made a racial slur when referring to where one of the men who had been fighting had gone. The incident happened in Suggitt Street on August 22 last year.

The court heard Dixon asked the men to move before getting a knife from his house when they refused. He told the probation service he hoped to scare them into putting their weapons down.

One of the group was reported to have been armed with a machete.

Dixon, of Stephen Street, Hartlepool, was said to have quickly taken the knife back inside and later realised his actions were foolish.

He pleaded guilty to the knife charge and causing racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.

Neil Bennett, defending, said in mitigation: “Had he not told the police he had a knife he would not be sitting here today. There’s no suggestion the knife was used or brandished.”

Regarding the racial slur, Mr Bennett accepted it was “totally inexcusable”.

Dixon, who the court was told is battling oral cancer, was last before the court in January for abusing a neighbour from South Africa.

He faced an automatic six-month jail term as he had another previous conviction for possessing a knife over 30 years ago.

But magistrates instead gave Dixon an 18-month community order with 30 rehabilitation activity days.

He was also given a nine-month conditional discharge for the racial slur offence and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £114 surcharge.

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