A DRUNK who abused a bus driver and turned on a would-be peacemaker passenger, threatening him with a hunting knife, has been jailed for 16 months.

Tuesday afternoon bus passengers looked on in horror as Jason Cuthbertson drew the weapon, which had a serrated blade of between five and seven inches in length, on board the number 22 Arriva service between Durham and Sunderland at around 4.30pm on January 30.

The 37-year-old, who had taken 14 diazepam tablets and drunk six pints of lager and up to half-a-bottle of rum, brandished the knife towards a New College Durham student, saying: “Come on then”, Durham Crown Court heard today (Monday, March 2).

The student ran off and Cuthbertson, of Pentland Close, Peterlee, was arrested the following day.

He had boarded the bus in Durham, obviously drunk, and got into an argument with the driver, the court was told, accusing him of ripping him off.

The driver asked him to get off, but he refused.

Cuthbertson turned on the student after he asked him to stop swearing, apparently trying to head butt him and then throwing a punch.

The student punched back in self-defence before going to the front of the bus and asking to get off, the court heard.

It was then that Cuthbertson produced the knife.

In a statement read to the court, the student said the attack was totally unprovoked, Cuthbertson was looking for a fight and when he drew the knife, he feared for his life.

Cuthbertson, who has 27 previous convictions for 62 offences and debts of £140,000, told the police he could recall little of the incident, but pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article and affray.

Tony Davis, mitigating, said Cuthbertson was “at a loss” to explain his behaviour, other than that he was intoxicated, and was “utterly repentant” and wished to apologise to his victim.

The court heard the father-of-three, whose partner is pregnant, had applied for 93 jobs before finally landing one a year ago with his current employer, who thinks very highly of him.

Mr Davis said having been in custody since the incident, Cuthbertson had had “ample opportunity to reflect upon his life” and was not a “feckless young individual intent on committing random acts of violence” but had transgressed for a “relatively brief moment”.

However, Judge Hickey said Cuthbertson had only himself to blame and sentenced him to 16 months in prison.