Police Tasered man holding knife to his throat threatening to stab himself

Robert Horner, 26, had stabbed himself in the leg and threatened to chop his girlfriend into pieces on July 26 before she rang the Cleveland Police for help.

Horner had chased her from her home and then held the kitchen knife to his throat telling two officers to keep back.

His solicitor Alex Bousfield said that Horner had a history of cutting himself with knives, and in this incident the only harm was to himself.

Prosecutor Rachel Masters said: “His girlfriend felt he was going to kill her.

”She saw a police vehicle arriving and she ran out of the building and saw them.

”He held the knife to his neck telling two officers that he was going to stab himself.

”He ran out with the knife and he told them to get back. They brought him to the ground with a Taser.

”In interview he said that he was going to stab himself.”

Mr Bousfield told the judge that Horner had no complaint about the use of the Taser and he knew the enormous threat posed by carrying a knife.

He said that Horner had been drinking and he had downed painkillers.

Horner, of Rochester Road, Billingham, was given a six months jail sentence suspended for 12 months with 20 hours rehabilitation requirements, 120 hours unpaid work and a five year restraining order banning him from contacting his former girlfriend.

He pleaded guilty to assault by beating, affray and possession of a knife.