Mansfield man: 'Mum - fetch me a knife so I can stab him.'

A Mansfield man asked his mum to fetch a knife so he could stab her landlord during a drunken confrontation, a court heard.
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Gareth Biggs came down the stairs of his mother’s Carter Lane flat, shouting, swearing and swinging his arms at the man, at 4.45pm, on February 22.

“He shouted: “I’m going to smash your face with an ashtray,”” said prosecutor Daniel Pietryka.

“Then: “Mum - fetch me a knife so I can stab him.”

“Police were called, and the defendant was found in drink and being abusive .

He shouted at officers: “I’ll cut your f****** throat.”

“”Get your fire arm cops down here now.”

“When he was arrested he was banging his head against the window of the car and the cell wall,” Mr Pietryka added.

Sarah Neale, mitigating, said that the landlord had applied for a restraining order on behalf of Biggs’ mother and sister.

“It appears he is trying to help a third party, but they’re not asking one for themselves,” she said, adding: “Mr Briggs accepts there have been some difficulties in the past.”

On this occasion he visited his mum so he could use the internet, she said, but an argument developed when he discovered the connection had been cut off.

“The landlord shouted up to see what was happening,” said Ms Neale. “In Mr Biggs’ perception the landlord was smirking at him and this upset him.”

She described him as a “vulnerable adult” who suffers from paranoia.

Biggs, 26, of Carter Lane, admitted threatening behaviour when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Friday.

He was last before the courts in May 2016.

Probation officer Cheryl Nisbet said he had been on bail conditions to stay away from his mother’s home.

“It follows a set pattern of offending, involving drinking followed by violence,” she said. “He stopped drinking two years ago and his record bears that out.”

Magistrates imposed a 12 month community order, with 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days to address anger management and alcohol use.

He was ordered to pay an £85 government surcharge, which will be deducted from benefits.