A MAN caught with a "hunting-style knife" in a busy Hereford street has avoided being sent straight to prison.

Joshua Williams-Davies entered a guilty plea to one count of possessing a knife blade or sharply pointed object in a public place when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford in January.

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The court heard from prosecutor Mark Hambling that the 20-year-old had been caught in possession of an article which had a blade or was sharply pointed, namely a hunting-style knife, in Hereford's Belmont Road without lawful authority or reasonable excuse on March 3 last year.

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Magistrates said they had taken the guilty plea into account, but that the offence was so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified.

Williams-Davies, who was represented by defence solicitor Edmund Middleton and who is of Dudley Road in Birmingham, was handed a four month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

The knife was ordered to be forfeited and destroyed.