A CHARD man who claimed he had just disarmed a 15-year-old boy when police found him with a knife and a baseball bat has received an eight-week suspended prison sentence.

Jamie Lee Christopher Owen said he had seen the youth with the weapons and took them off him as he was threatening 'to do some serious damage to someone'.

When police were alerted to a group of youths in Chard they found Owen with a knife hidden in his jacket, with a wooden bat lying on the ground nearby.

He told police he had the items for his own protection, but when he appeared before Somerset Magistrates he said he had lied in order to protect the teenager.

Owen, of Old Town, admitted possessing a knife and an offensive weapon at Chard on May 13.

At a previous hearing prosecutor Michael Little said police were on duty in Furzehill when they received information that a man in a black hoodie was with three other males and had a baseball bat concealed up his sleeve.

They toured the area and saw four males, including Owen, stood in Furnham Road.

“They searched the male and he identified himself as Owen and then reached into his jacket and produced an aluminium kitchen knife with a four inch blade,” he said.

“He held it up and one of the officers took hold of his right wrist and the other took the knife away.”

He added: “He became violent and aggressive and had to be restrained and then a short distance away the officers saw a wooden baseball bat on the grass nearby.”

Owen told the magistrates that the unnamed 15-year-old had taken the knife from his kitchen and he had disarmed him.

He said: “He had the knife and the bat and said he was going to do some serious damage to someone and I didn’t want him to do that.

“Therefore I disarmed him and put the knife in my jacket and then took the bat off him and put it up my sleeve.”

The magistrates sentenced Owen to a total of eight weeks in prison suspended for 18 months. He must complete a 60-day rehabilitation activity requirement, pay a £180 court charge and an £80 victim surcharge.