'Voices' told Telford man to stab member of the public

Reece Friar, 21, had called the police, telling them he was going to stab a passer-by and then throw himself on to the motorway, said Mr Mike Phillips, prosecuting at Telford Magistrates Court.

When officers arrived on the Garfield Road bridge over the motorway in Telford they found the defendant was alone.

When they ordered him to empty out his pockets he produced a nine-inch knife with a five-inch blade which he immediately placed on the ground when ordered to do so.

Magistrates were given a letter by the community mental health team and told by the prosecution that Friar had been seeking help, but had not been taking the full medication at the time of the incident.

On the morning of the offence on May 4 he had also smoked two joints, said Mr Phillips.

Friar had previously pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article in a public place.

Magistrates heard he had told police the reason he had not stabbed anybody was because he had not met anyone on his route towards the bridge.

Mr Phillips said the bridge was the scene of an earlier suicide attempt by Friar, who lives nearby in Overdale.

Mrs Lisa Morris-Jones, for Friar, said the defendant has no previous convictions but suffered mental and physical health problems.

She said the voices heard by Friar were those of his father and a friend who were killed in an accident.

"Generally speaking he can control these voices and take no action whatsoever, but that morning they got the better of him," she said.

Mrs Morris-Jones said Friar had not approached anybody, nor injured anybody during the incident.

Magistrates said they would take into account Friar's mental health problems, his ongoing treatment and his co-operation with mental health experts.

He was given a 12-month community order with 12-months of probation supervision and 60 days of rehabilitation activities.