Man threatens to gut police with a bill hook

Anthony Joseph Quinn (30), from Bellavale Terrace, Coalisland, was sentenced to a total of six months imprisonment on charges of possessing an offensive weapon, and assaulting police on June 4 this year.

District Judge Michael Ranaghan described it as a ”very serious offence” and said it must have been frightening for the police to be confronted with such a weapon.

Mr Ranaghan said he would give Quinn credit for his early plea and for already having served a six-month period of custody.

He ordered the defendant to pay a £25 offender levy. “The sentence effectively means that you should be released very shortly,” he added.

Prosecution counsel told East Tyrone Magistrates Court sitting in Dungannon on Friday that police spoke to the injured party at the residence and the defendant was on the roof of the property.

She said he threw a flower pot which fell close to officers and stones before coming down brandishing a 10-inch blade bill hook. He told police: “Come near me and I’ll gut you like a fish. You’ll get this in the shoulder and this in the neck.”

Counsel said he was later arrested and refused to answer police questions.

A defence lawyer said the incident had been fuelled by a “build up of alcohol” during the isolation of the lockdown period. He said the defendant realised now that he should have agreed to a peaceful resolution to the matter and went along with the police officers.