A drunk yob found with a huge kitchen knife in his pocket after rowing with bar staff at a city centre hotel claimed he bought it at a pound shop - for £2.50 - and forgot about it.
Mechanic Khalid Sabah Namis, 40, went into the bar of the Holiday Inn, close to Piccadilly Station, on February 27.
He was drunk and refused service, a court heard.
This sparked a furious response, before staff called the police.
Officers attended and found Namis on the street outside the hotel.
They found a large kitchen knife in his jacket pocket, Justin Hayhoe, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court.
Namis was arrested before being interviewed. He said he bought the blade at a pound shop - for £2.50 - and had forgotten it was in his pocket.
Namis, of Midland Street, Ardwick, pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article at a previous hearing.
He has a previous conviction for knife-related offences, having received a suspended sentence for possession in 2004, the year after he moved to the UK.
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The court was told that involved him buying a knife in a shop and then being found with it after getting into an argument with shop staff.
Defending, Brian McKenna said Namis worked full time as a mechanic and urged the judge to suspend his sentence so he could continue working.
Judge Martin Rudland sentenced Namis to four-and-a-half months behind bars.
He told him: "This offence is possession. You don't have to produce, or brandish it, threaten anyone with it or injure or even kill with it. Those acts attract entirely different offences.
"This is about possession and it goes to the very heart of the fight against knife crime.
"You were discovered in possession of a knife, not because you produced it, but because you got into an argument with bar staff whilst you were in drink at the Holiday Inn in Manchester.
"That's just the sort of of potent situation that can then lead to a knife being produced, brandished or used.
"And that's why Parliament have said those who have already had a shot across their bows in the form of a conviction must be dealt with robustly.
"You must have known possession of a knife was something extremely serious.
"You may well have bought it at a pound shop and forgotten it was in your pocket, but frankly that is something that just shouldn't have happened."
Namis was ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge.
