Drunk youth thrust knife at st

FAMILY tension erupted when a cider-fuelled city man threatened his stepfather with a knife during a row at their home, Exeter Crown Court has heard.

Toby Shapcott, 20, from East Wonford Hill, was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work in the community at Exeter Crown Court after pleading guilty to affray.

The court heard that Shapcott did not get on with his stepfather and had been living a drifting lifestyle where he pooled his money with other young people to get drunk on cheap cider.

This had changed since the incident, with him moving out of the family home, reconciling with his mother and applying to join the army.

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Judge Graham Cottle told him: "It was an unpleasant incident.

It was you having too much to drink and being confronted perfectly properly by your mother. She was angry and anyone would have been and it just escalated from there.

"It included you taking a knife from your room which you used for your fishing activities and thrusting it towards your stepfather Replica handbags who you have no time for."

Prosecutor Howard Phillips said the incident happened when Shapcott drunkenly arrived at his mother's home which he then shared, at another address in Wonford, around 5.40pm on February 26 this year.

He had been drinking 'white cider' and lost his temper when his mother refused to invite his friends into the house and eventually ordered him to leave. "It was a background of family discord," said Mr Phillips.

"There's been tension in the past, occasions including court appearances where he has damaged his mother's property and her partner's property."

Mr Phillips added: "She shut the door, he pushed the door open, grabbing her around the throat and pushing her to the floor.

"Her partner was furious and ran up the stairs."

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Words were exchanged, then Shapcott unsuccessfully swung a punch at his stepfather, while his mother told him to stop.

Mr Phillips said: "The defendant then picked up a kitchen knife from his room, which he uses for fishing, and jabbed it between the banisters at his stepfather's legs."

His stepfather stepped out of the way and the defendant left the house and was later found nearby in a drunken state.

The court was told that Shapcott's mother had "not been terribly supportive" of the prosecution since the incident and did not want a restraining order for him to stay away.

The defendant had appeared regularly in youth court, mostly for criminal damage including putting a brick through his stepfather's window and breaking his mother's ornaments, but had only been convicted of one offence, for being drunk and disorderly, since he was 18.

Defence counsel Malcolm Galloway said Shapcott was now living with a friend of his mother's, who showed "zero tolerance" towards his drinking, and he was trying to sort his life out.

Mr Galloway said: "Everyone who has come into contact with this man says he needs direction....

he was among young people pooling their money to buy the cheapest cider."

Judge Cottle said Shapcott must complete the unpaid work within the next 12 months.