Man caught walking around with kitchen knife on Telford residential street

Officers went to Meadow Lea, in Madeley, Telford, in response to reports of a disturbance shortly after 8pm on January 14. When they arrived they saw Thomas Greenwood, aged 26, with the knife in his hand, but he claimed he found it in the street while investigating who was knocking on people’s doors.

Greenwood admitted possession of a knife.

Miss Abigail Hall, prosecuting at Telford Magistrates Court, said: “As the officer drew closer he saw a man and a woman. He could see that the male was holding something shiny in his hand. It was in fact a large kitchen knife that is 12-inch in length.”

“He knew the male from previous incidents. He watched him scrape the the knife along the wall. The officer drew his taser and at this point Greenwood became aware of the police presence and pulls the knife behind his back. The officer told him to put it down on the ground which the defendant did.

“In his interview the defendant said ‘a bloke was knocking on our doors’ and when he came outside he found the knife. He claimed he was returning to his home address. But the officers said they saw the defendant in a location that was in the opposite direction to where his home was and where he said he found the knife.”

She added that, in interview Greenwood accused the officers of “picking on him” due to a previous incident when he was arrested and said “he didn’t want to scare anyone” with the knife.

Greenwood, of Meadow Lea, has 36 previous convictions including possession of a bladed article and possession of an offensive weapon dating to 2007.

A week after his January 14 arrest, Greenwood was recalled to prison for six months for a completely separate matter, - after he admitted an offence of harassment relating to threatening messages he sent via social media to a stranger whom he claimed had sent requests for images to his wife.

By committing that offence he had breached the terms of his prison release after serving time for dangerous driving in Telford in September 2016.

The magistrates transferred the case to Shrewsbury Crown Court for sentencing by a judge next month.