A teenager who confronted his neighbours with a kitchen knife after exchanging a string of abusive text messages has escaped jail.

John Griffiths, 19, of Humber Road, Witham, was given a 160 hour community punishment order and was ordered to pay £50 costs when he appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court for sentence on Monday.

The sentence relates to an incident on September 20, when after sending insulting text messages to each other, Griffiths approached his two neighbours armed with a kitchen knife.

He had admitted possessing the knife at an earlier hearing, and at a hearing last month magistrates found he had used the knife in a threatening way to scare the couple.

Tim Stone, mitigating, said Griffiths had had a traumatic up-bringing and had been to every children's home in Essex as well as a number of foster homes.

But he added Griffiths was "someone with a strength of character built out of everything that has happened to him" and that he was very remorseful about what he had done.

Chairman of the bench, Richard Carter, told Griffiths, "you realise that a knife offence is always viewed very seriously by courts and we view this very seriously.

"The mistake you made was in not putting the knife down at the first opportunity, but you haven't got a bad record, you pleaded guilty and are showing remorse and regret at appearing in court."

Published Tuesday, April 8, 2003

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