Man jailed after pulling a knife on night out at 80s-themed bar

A 43-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 months imprisonment after he pulled a kitchen knife from his waistband and pressed it against a bouncer's chest.

Appearing from Forest Bank Prison in Salford by video link, Andrew Perry from Tameside plead guilty to two counts of threatening a person with a bladed article in a public place and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place.

The charges related to an altercation on the 16th of December 2021, when Perry was out drinking at a bar called 'Back To The 80's' in Stalybridge.

Perry was said to be a regular at this establishment, visiting 3 or 4 times a week, and on this particular occasion, he approached a woman and asked her to include him in her round of drinks.

Perry left the bar at 1AM before returning a short while later. He spoke to the security guard, Mr Bennett, at the bar, and at this time had a kitchen knife tucked into his waistband.

Andrew Perry pulled the knife from his waistband and pressed it against the bar, and threatened the manager saying he "would put it in his neck."

The bar's bouncer interveined twice, and by this point, all of the involved parties were now outside. Perry then 'pressed the knife against Mr Bennett's torso."

Yet minutes later, at the end of the evening, he gave the general manager of the bar a hug, after previously threatening to put a kitchen knife through his neck.

Perry messaged Mr. Bennett, the bar's bouncer at the end of the evening, saying "there was a line and he had crossed it."

When police began investigating the incident, Perry claimed that it wasn't him in the CCTV images.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Bennet said the incident had left him shaken up and "after reflection, I realise how serious this was. I could have been stabbed, harmed, or killed."

Mr McCoy, the general manager, also prepared a victim impact statement: "I took the next day off as I broke down in tears."

Paul Addison was defending Mr Perry and said that his client "accepts his behaviour was disgraceful" on the 16th of December and also added that Perry is "deeply embarrassed."

Presiding over the case, Mr. Recorder Michael Blakey told Perry that the women "didn't want you to join their party" and "you returned with a knife."

Blakey, referencing Perry pressing a knife against Bennett's torso, said: "that must have been an exceptionally frightening experience."

Mr Recorder Michael Blakey said: "You have a bad record" but "you have demonstrated that you can keep free of trouble" referencing gaps in Perry's offending record where he had appeared to turn his life around.

Blakey added: "You've let yourself down." before handing down a sentence of 15 months, with his sentences to run concurrently meaning in totality, Perry will be sentenced to 15 months.