A FORMER soldier from Hereford has been cleared of having a machete in public after spending five months in jail awaiting trial.

After the verdict, Stephen Bourke called out to the jury from the dock at Worcester Crown Court: “Five months I’ve been in prison, man. Thank you.”

The 41-year-old from Nelson Street, St James, had denied having a bladed article in a public place, which the prosecution claimed he had produced to a man in Green Street.

But the jury cleared him after hearing the alleged machete had never been found.

Prosecutor Charles Hamer told the court that Mr Bourke was seen with a machete in Green Street, St James, in the early hours of December 12.

William Allen had been cycling to his home when he was approached by Mr Bourke, who asked for cannabis, it was alleged.

Mr Allen refused and said that, after further conversation, Mr Bourke told him: “I used to be in the army. I could kill you if I wanted.”

Mr Allen carried on and put his cycle away before letting himself into his home. He alleged that he could see Mr Bourke through a glass panel.

He said that, when he opened the door, Mr Bourke pushed inside and produced a curled knife with an 18in blade from his back pack.

He later told police that he felt sympathy for Mr Bourke and felt he needed help, rather than be punished.Mr Allen added that he could not remember if the knife had been sheathed although he had seen a sheath in the back pack and he managed to kick the door shut before Mr Bourke walked away. He also said he looked on Facebook to find a picture of Mr Bourke and was later able to pick him out during a police identity procedure.

Benjamin Close, defending, told the jury that, when giving evidence, Mr Allen accepted that he did not actually see any blade but he was expecting to see one because he had been told he would be cut.

And, later, when police looked for it, a “machete is nowhere to be seen”.

When police called at his home at 2.20am, Mr Bourke’s wife answered the door and said her husband was probably in the garden shed, where officers found him.

The jury knew that Mr Bourke had mental health issues and he kept “odd hours”, said Mr Close.

He added that it was a housemate of Mr Allen’s who gave him Mr Bourke’s name, which meant the identity procedure was “less than ideal”.