A drug addict and serial criminal said a judge is "taking the f***ing p***" as he was jailed for 18 months today.
John King, 54, who has committed a staggering 142 previous offences, went on an explosive rant as he was led from the dock at Liverpool Crown Court to the cells.
He said: “Eighteen months for that. He’s taking the f***ing p***. What the f*** is up with these people?”
Drug addict King has seven previous convictions for possessing bladed articles or offensive weapons and the court heard that he faced an automatic minimum six month behind bars.
King had been found with a home made knuckle-duster type weapon, described as an adapted bottle opener.
He claimed he collected them but Judge Thomas Teague, QC said that while it was not sharply pointed “you could have caused a very nasty injury with it.”
He pointed out that two years ago he was convicted of possessing a similar weapon, described as a corkscrew.
Jamie Baxter, prosecuting, who described the weapon in the 2017 offence as “particularly disturbing, a shank”, said that King was spotted on West Derby Road on the afternoon of August 12 by a police sergeant.
He was with two other men and the officer was suspicious they were involved in a drugs transaction.
The trio went in different directions and the officer apprehended King and when searched the weapon was found on a key ring.
Mr Baxter said: “He said it was a bottle opener and he collected them."
King, of July Road, West Derby, subsequently pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon.
Brendan Carville, defending, said that King’s sister had died while he was in custody on remand and he was not allowed to attend her funeral which had all had “a devastating effect” on him.
He said that King could do another custodial sentence "standing on his head" and urged the judge to suspend it.
Mr Carville said the defendant had not brandished the weapon and the suspicion about a drugs transaction was ill-founded. He has responded well to a methadone prescription while in jail, he added.
