A perpetrator found with a knife in a strange car in Sunderland has been warned that he is in the “Last Chance Saloon”.
John Wheelan, 42, was threatened by judges who heard it was his second public blade crime in six years.
Wheelan was spotted in the back seat of a Citroen at 8:05 a.m. after an overnight break-in on Cambourne Avenue in Seaburn, Sunderland.
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A Stanley knife was found in a pocket of his hoodie when police searched him on Sunday June 27th.
Prosecutor Clare Irving told South Tyneside judges to consider detaining him for six months under the Knife on Two Strike Guidelines.
The bank’s chairman, Kenneth Wilson, told Wheelan of Roker Avenue, Roker, Sunderland that it was an option.
And he added: “We discussed this for a long time. This is almost your last chance now. “
Ms. Irving told the hearing, “An officer was sent to the area after reporting a suspicious man.
“On the way to the incident, the officer was made aware that there was a man in the car.
“The defendant was in the back of the vehicle and during the search the officer found a silver Stanley knife in the right pocket of a hoodie.
“The previous evening at 6:20 p.m., the owner of the vehicle parked it and, he thought, locked it.
“The owner said he didn’t allow anyone to be in the vehicle.
“Nothing was stolen from the car and everything was billed. It appears that the vehicle must have been left open.
“When interviewed, he said he didn’t know why he was there and that he was likely to steal something.
“He said if he had a blade it must have already been in the vehicle.”
Ms. Irving said Wheelan was caught with a blade in public in 2015 – and was jailed for eight months in November for breaking into an uninhabited apartment.
He was released in December and is now under probation service follow-up.
Joanne Gatens, who defended herself, said, “I hear what my friend said about the previous article about blades, but it is not mandatory.
“The age of the conviction must be taken into account, it is six years old.
“He has made progress since his license release. For the first time he can remember, he has his own shelter.
“He kept the license and there were no further insults.
“Mr. Wheelan doesn’t know where the knife comes from, he thinks it must have been in the vehicle.
“He doesn’t know why he was in the vehicle, he has no memory that suggests substance abuse.”
Wheelan pleaded guilty to possessing an object with blades and disrupting the vehicle.
The court ordered a report on all options, including the possibility of imprisonment.
Wheelan will be sentenced by the same court on Thursday July 22nd.
He and was given bail on the condition that he lived at his home address and adhered to a curfew from 8 p.m. to 8 p.m.
