Armed man in Wigan used knife for 'foot-scraping'

Craig Howard was seen holding the weapon, which was described as a steak knife with a four-inch blade, on Lime Street, Scholes, by a shop worker.

Wigan and Leigh magistrates heard that the 35-year-old was not showing any signs of threatening behaviour or an intention to hurt anyone.

But that the member of staff was alarmed by the very fact that he was armed and called police.

Officers located him, searched him and, on recovering a knife, arrested him.

Howard pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article when he appeared in the dock.

Prosecuting, Tess Kenyon said told the hearing: “When interviewed, he told police that the knife should have been in his sleeping bag, and that he uses it to pick loose skin away from his hands and feet.

“The police believe he has issues with drugs and his support worker is said to be concerned about his lifestyle on the streets.

“There are aggravating features in that he has two relevant previous convictions, one of which was possession of a bladed article back in 2015 that led to a 12-month prison sentence.”

The court heard that Howard had been out of trouble since 2016, when he was convicted of assault and criminal damage and sentenced to nine months in prison.

Defending, Gerard Frazer said: “These are not dangerous circumstances, and my client is not threatening anybody.

“You have to consider that this man is homeless.

“So when the police search him they are going to find his worldly possessions, which would include this knife.

“He was in the course of being himself, a homeless man who is scavenging for a living and, as you heard, to pick skin away from his hands and feet, which I could see after spending some considerable time talking to him.

“There was no suggestion that he was carrying it for any sort of self-defence as a consequence of being on the streets, and unlike us who have kitchen blocks and holders to store our knives, this man doesn’t.”

The bench decided that their sentencing powers were not enough to decide Howard’s fate, so the case will be sentenced at by a judge at Bolton Crown Court on Monday March 18.

Howard was denied bail on the case that he has failed to surrender to the courts in the past.