Man jailed for carrying shovel weapon in station

Darren Winston was found carrying a shovel at Newcastle's Central Station in May

A man who armed himself with a shovel in a busy train station weeks after being released from prison for a similar offence has been jailed for six months.

Darren Winston, 43, told police he would attack anyone who "started on him" with the blue tool in Newcastle's Central Station on 14 May, the city's crown court heard.

Weeks earlier, he had been released on licence having been jailed for carrying a sharpened metal pole in the same station, one of six previous convictions for possessing a weapon.

Winston, who has been diagnosed with paranoid delusions and drug-induced psychosis, admitted possessing an offensive weapon.

He had been released from prison on 28 April for the previous metal pole offence, prosecutor Antonia Adie said.

'Deeply depressing cycle'

At about 19:00 BST On 14 May, station staff alerted police to Winston carrying the shovel through the complex, the court heard.

He said he had it for his own protection and was prepared to use it to "smash up" anyone who attacked him.

Ms Adie said the station was busy and there was a risk of "serious disorder" if he used the shovel as a weapon.

In mitigation, Mairi Clancy said Winston, of no fixed abode, was "stuck in a deeply depressing cycle" of homelessness, crack cocaine addiction and paranoid delusions.

Assistant Judge Advocate Thomas Mitchell said Winston had a long record, including violence.

"Unfortunately you keep making the same choices fuelled by a degree of paranoia and crack use," the judge told him, but added Winston had now accepted he needed official help, which he was getting.