A MAN high on drugs, wielding two kitchen knives, threatened to hurt a passer-by in a Popley street on Christmas morning, a court heard.

Christopher Matthews, 32, later told a shopkeeper he was concerned somebody was hiding in his flat, moments before he was arrested by police.

Matthews, of Shakespeare Road, appeared in the dock at Winchester Crown Court for sentence on Friday, having admitted two counts of possessing a bladed item in public.

The offence took place on the morning of Christmas Day last year, in the street where he lives, after Matthews had taken MDMA.

Simon Edwards, prosecuting, said: “A member of the public saw this defendant in the street. He was holding a kitchen knife and a carving knife.

“He said to the witness, ‘Are you starting?’ and then said to him, ‘I will hurt you’. Not surprisingly, the police were called.

“In the meantime, he had been in the local shop and said that there was somebody hiding in his flat and that’s why he was outside. He was then arrested and taken into custody.”

Sinead Willox, defending, handed to the court a letter of apology written by Matthews, to the man who saw him in the street, as well as a letter from Matthews’ partner and certificates of negative drugs tests taken since his arrest.

Judge Andrew Barnett said that while the offence was serious, Matthews had made good progress in recent years, after committing offences when he was younger.

Matthews received a six-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, with curfew and drug rehabilitation requirements.