THREATENING to slit the throats of two police officers with a large kitchen knife following an angry argument with his former partner has landed one man in prison.

Michael Grainger flew into a rage when the officers arrived at the house and threatened them with a large kitchen knife, shouting, "I will slit both of your throats – I will f***ing stab you".

The officers called for back-up and colleagues and members of Cleveland Police's dog unit arrived at the scene in Simonside Walk, Ormesby, Middlesbrough.

Jenny Haigh, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court that Grainger threatened to slit his own throat but decided to put down the knife when the police dogs arrived.

She said: "Once the officer saw him, he started to back off and the officer noticed he had a large kitchen knife pointing towards them and he shouted, 'I will slit your throats – I will f***ing stab you' – the officer felt that threats were genuine and thought he shouldn't approach him.

"He continued shouting, 'I will slit your throats and I will slit your f***ing throats now'."

One of the officers extended his baton to disarm the 21-year-old but Grainger continued to shout he would stab them before trying to escape.

She added: "Grainger ran off through the estate and the other officers and the dog unit arrived and he was threatening to kill himself and he had the knife to his own throat."

Grainger, of Crescent Road, Billingham, pleaded guilty to threatening a person with a pointed object following the row on December 14 last year, and breaching a non-molestation order.

In mitigation, James Yearsley, said his client had told him that his former partner was "old news" now and there would not be a repeat of the behaviour.

He added: "There was no use of the weapon, there was just threats and he threatened himself as well as the officers and it's more likely that he would harm himself more than the officers."

Judge Stephen Ashurst told Grainger that members of the public need to be protected from people brandishing knives in public and jailed him for a total of 19 months.

He said: "I recognise that in the end the officers didn't suffer any injuries, but clearly they were very frightened about suffering harm when you threatened them."