A man armed himself with two nine-inch kitchen knives before going into a pub and waving them around, a court heard.

One customer was injured in the arm when he was accidentally cut and a court also heard how the man said he would kill everyone there.

Chelmsford Crown Court was also told how another customer had a knife held to his throat during the incident in the town's Springfield Arms pub.

The court heard that 26-year-old Lee Devine got involved in a row with pub customer Andrew Earth on November 1 last year.

Devine, of Debonair Road, Chelmsford, was told to leave the pub and on the way out shouted: "I'll come back and kill you all," Richard Kelly, prosecuting, said.

About 20 minutes later, Devine was seen putting a large knife inside his shirt before going back in.

"He approached a man called Ricky Walker, who was sitting on a stool playing a fruit machine, and, before he had time to turn around, Mr Walker was grabbed from behind, pulled back and had a knife held to his throat," Mr Kelly added.

This lasted for about a minute before he was released and Devine made his way to the door, still waving the knives around.

"He caught another customer called Chris Wolczyk, causing a three-inch cut to his arm," Mr Kelly said.

Devine apologised to Mr Wolczyk, saying it was an accident. Police arrested him later, the court heard.

Devine admitted charges of threatening violence, actual bodily harm to Mr Wolczyk and possessing two bladed articles in a public place.

He was jailed for a total of 27 months.

Ahmad Choudray, mitigating, said: "When he has too much to drink he loses all control."

Judge Chris Ball QC told Devine: "Fuelled by drink you lost control and behaved in a quite terrifying way."

Published Friday, June 27, 2003

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