A MAN caught with a blade and drugs in his possession who had a previous record for knife offences has been sent to prison.

Lee Halsall, 40, appeared before Liverpool, Knowsley and St Helens Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, September 24.

Halsall, of Basin Crescent, St Helens, had previously indicated guilty pleas to charges of possession of a knife blade in a public place and to possession of cannabis in an earlier hearing on August 14.

On August 13, the defendant had a loose Stanley blade on his person on Holly Bank Street.

He was also caught in possession of a quantity of cannabis on the same date.

Halsall was handed an immediate prison term by district judge Paul Healey. 

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The 40-year-old was sentenced to 26 weeks imprisonment.

According to a court sheet this was because the offences were "so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified".

The court document cited his "previous record and character" and added this was the defendant's "third knife offence", and he was given the "statutory minimum sentence". 

The court ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the blade.

The judge also passed a Serious Violence Reduction Order for two years upon Halsall's release from custody.

The forfeiture and destruction of the cannabis was also ordered, with no separate penalty imposed for the drugs offence.