Hartlepool man jailed at Teesside Crown Court after wielding 'zombie-style knife' during police incident
A man who wielded a “zombie-style” knife at police during a violent confrontation has been locked up.
Forty-year-old David Hey reacted wildly when police attended an address he was at in Hutton Avenue, Hartlepool on August 2 of this year.
Teesside Crown Court heard that during the incident, at which a child was present, he waved a knife around and assaulted three police officers.
Prosecutor Nigel Soppitt said police had to discharge a taser before officers could handcuff Hey and arrest him.
He made no comment when questioned, but later pleaded guilty to threatening a person with an offensive weapon in a private place.
Hey, of Hutton Avenue, also admitted three counts of assaulting an emergency worker and possession of an offensive weapon in private.
The knife was described as something between a zombie knife and a sword.
The judge, Recorder Peter Makepeace, said: “It’s a vicious and nasty weapon. It’s difficult to see what possible legitimate use it could have.”
Stephen Constantine said in mitigation the knife did not belong to him and he just picked it up when he panicked.
Mr Constatnine added Hey, who has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety, had been self-medicating, but is now drug-free and willing to accept help.
Sentencing Hey to 24 months imprisonment, Recorder Makepeace said it was a “prolonged incident”.
He added: “These were serious offences. In all the circumstances, I’m afraid a suspended sentence would not meet the justice of the offences.
“It has to be an immediate sentence.”