A FORMER butcher was caught carrying a “fearsome” knife in his car.

Michael Parker, 24, was behind the wheel of a car which was randomly stopped by police in Clacton.

He admitted to officers he had a butcher’s knife in the door compartment and also told them: “I have some weed in my pocket.”

Parker, of Carrs Road, Clacton, claimed he had blunted the head of the knife to ensure it could not be used as a deadly weapon and was driving around with it in his car by accident when he was stopped in Olivers Road, Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard.

But District Judge Andrew Woollard did not believe Parker’s excuse, saying: “I reject that you were driving around with a knife in your vehicle by accident.

“You had a fearsome weapon available to your hand if you needed it, which is not acceptable.”

Mr Woollard said he had a duty to take knife possession seriously because of the levels of knife crime in the UK and north Essex.

Parker said he had been given the knife while he worked as a butcher at Coleman’s Butchers, in Boxted, and had begun using it for “odd DIY jobs around the place”.

Coleman’s confirmed Parker, who said he regularly used cannabis when he was caught by police on October 20, had not worked at the business for about a year.

The former butcher admitted having a knife in a public place and possession of a class B drug.

Parker was sentenced to 60 days in jail, suspended for one year, and ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work.

He was fined £120 for the drug offence, with an £80 victim surcharge.