Sunderland man caught with machete is spared jail

Jack Vest, 27, faced up to six months behind bars after police found him with a machete in Shepherd Street, in the Millfield area of the city, on August 7.

Vest, also of Shepherd Street, was arrested in 2014 for having a blade while a youth, leading to the double strike jail threat, magistrates in South Tyneside heard.

But instead of putting him behind bars, they allowed him to keep his liberty after his solicitor argued it would be unjust to imprison him.

They instead sentenced him to an 18-month community order, with 25 rehabilitation days and 60 hours of unpaid work.

Prosecutor Christopher O’Brien said: “There was a report by a member of the public who had overheard an argument between a group of people and one had said he had a machete.

“Police attended and some of the group made off. When interviewed the defendant admitted being in possession of a machete.

“He said that he had been threatened by someone with a machete and they had dropped it and he had picked it up.

“In 2014 he was convicted of possession of a bladed article and that means there is a minimum of six months custody.”

Vest, who has five previous convictions from 11 offences, the last in 2019, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of a bladed article in public.

Annalisa Moscardini, defending, said: “He’s a young man who has been through the care system and has had a difficult start to life.

“However, for the past seven years he has not been in trouble. He was drinking some alcohol with friends and it’s gone wrong for him.

“He was 15 years old at the time of the other bladed offence. It would be unjust to imprison him. There is work available to him that he can start relatively quickly.”

Magistrates also ordered Vest to pay a £114 victim surcharge and £85 court costs and imposed a deprivation order so that the machete is confiscated and destroyed.