A Moray man who started shouting in the street with a knife in his hand has been jailed for more than a year.
George Petrie, from Keith, picked up the knife three times, telling the friends he had been drinking with at a house on the town’s Turner Street that he “wanted to get locked up”.
The 34-year-old, of 26 Den Crescent, admitted breaching the peace by picking up a knife and repeatedly shouting and banging on a window when he appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court.
The offence happened on February 4.
Fiscal Ruaridh McAllister said: “He went through to the kitchen and picked up a kitchen knife from the worktop there. A woman asked what he was going to do with it and took it from him.
“He picked up a smaller knife and began walking towards the door. The woman again went over and knocked the knife out of his hand but he picked it up again and went outside.”
Once outside, Petrie shouted incoherently and frightened witnesses called the police.
Defence solicitor Michael O’Neill said: “He never wished to cause harm to his friends.”
Petrie was also yesterday sentenced for two charges of shoplifting.
He stole six cans of beer from D Williams Tyres and Autocare on the town’s Moss Street on June 13, 2015, as well as a block of cheese, a breakfast pack and a bottle of wine from the Spar on Regent Street on March 5 this year.
Sheriff Chris Dickson said: “You have an appalling record of previous convictions, numerous for theft.”
Petrie was sentenced to 386 days in prison.
