A man has been jailed for posting a knife through a letterbox in a "misguided" attempt to protect his dad.
Carl Farrell became concerned that his dad was being bullied by other residents in a multi occupancy property in South Shields , a court heard.
So the 35-year-old "hung around" outside his father's home for about 10 minutes on March 3 this year before pulling a knife from his trousers and dropping it through the letterbox.
Farrell, of Chilean Avenue, South Shields, was arrested after residents reported him hanging around the property.
A member of staff from the housing authority looked at CCTV from that weekend, which had captured the whole incident.
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Now Farrell has been jailed for 22 weeks after a judge told him it was "a very dangerous and stupid thing to do".
Prosecutor Neil Pallister told Newcastle Crown Court that a housing authority worker returned to work after the weekend and was told Farrell had attended the address where his father lived.
"When she checked the CCTV footage she was the defendant had been there on the Saturday and Sunday , effectively hanging around outside the address," he said.
"Spoke to people inside the address through the door - one can only assume one of those persons was his father.
"The defendant is shown on CCTV hanging around outside the property for about 10 minutes and is then seen removing a knife from the rear of his trousers.
"He puts the knife, having having wiped it, into his jacket pocket. At some point he posted the knife through the letterbox."
The court heard Farrell's father was spoken to by police on March 5 and confirmed his son had attended the address on the afternoon of March 3 asking for tobacco and socks, which he handed over.
Mr Pallister said: "At some point the defendant dropped the knife, which had a blade of around three and a half inches, through the letterbox, telling his father it was for his own protection."
Farrell initially told police that the implement on the CCTV was a small set of nail scissors, but later accepted that it was a knife and pleaded guilty to having a bladed article.
In mitigation, the court heard Farrell and his father are "very close" and this was "a somewhat misguided attempt to protect him after becoming concerned he was being bullied".
Judge Robert Spragg sentenced Farrell to 22 weeks behind bars.
He told him: "It was a very dangerous and stupid thing to do, especially considering you had to carry it in public to get it there."
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