A RAIL traveller who was seen carrying a knife as he enjoyed a cigarette outside Carlisle Rail Station has been jailed.

Christopher Loy, 47, who was also carrying a small amount of the illegal drug amphetamine, got into trouble after a fellow traveller spotted the knife’s blade sticking out of the defendant's pocket, the city’s Rickergate court heard.

The defendant pleaded guilty to both offences – possessing the class B drug and having a knife in a public place with no lawful reason.

George Shelley, prosecuting, said the offences came to light shortly before 1pm on May 24 when a concerned member of the public approached a police officer and told him about the knife in Loy’s pocket.

“The man challenged the defendant about this and also knew that he was travelling to Newcastle on the train,” said Mr Shelley.

A short time later, after the  train had left Carlisle for Newcastle, police boarded the train and, with the help of the passenger who had reported Loy, identified the defendant, who by this stage was carrying a white Greggs bag.

Once he was off the train, the officers told Loy why he had been singled out. “He told the officers that he had found the knife in Dumfries and didn’t know what to do with it,” said Mr Shelley.

Police found the black-handled knife, which had a five-inch blade, in the Greggs bag the defendant was carrying. When the defendant was searched, the officers also found a plastic snap-bag containing a white powder.

This was later confirmed to be amphetamine.

The court heard that Loy has 42 offences on his criminal record, including previous drugs offences.

Mark Shepherd, defending, said that background reports showed that Loy clearly had “complex mental health issues.” But it was apparent that he appeared now to be doing better than he was.

A suspended prison sentence would provide Loy with stability to build on this progress, Mr Shepherd told District Judge John Temperley.

But the judge rejected that argument, telling the defendant that the starting point for the more serious of the two offences – the knife possession – was six months custody, and that was for an offender with no previous convictions.

The offence was aggravated by Loy being on a community order at the time. The judge told Loy, of Rosefield Road, Dumfries: “While it is clear that you have complex mental health issues, I notice that you continue to use illicit drugs, which are clearly having an adverse impact.”

Yet worryingly, continued the judge, the defendant had shown no motivation to deal with his drugs problem. The judge added: “There is no realistic prospect in my view of rehabilitation.” He jailed Loy for 16 weeks.