A JUDGE was left shocked after a defendant came to court asking to be sent to jail.

Michael Desmond King was court having pleaded guilty to being in a public place with a folding Stanley knife in his rucksack.

He told officers that it was there because he had previously been cutting up carpet, and was intending to return it to a friend.

It was his second conviction for possessing a bladed article, and third after a conviction for possessing an imitation firearm is considered.

However, rather than instructing his barrister to argue that it would be unjust for him to receive the mandatory minimum of six months in prison, he said he wanted to go to jail to “reset his head”.

Keith Ballinger had told Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday that officers were patrolling Ermin Street in Stratton on late on February 2, when they were told three men were acting suspiciously.

One of them, King, was searched and the blade was found.

“It’s clearly not been brandished or seen in public,” he conceded.

Referencing the mandatory minimum, Mark Glendenning, defending, acknowledged: “He’s in a difficult position.

“He accepts he has this blade, it’s a standard DIY knife.”

Sentencing, District Judge Joanna Dickens said someone appearing in the dock asking for custody was “unusual”.

“If that’s what you want I’m going to tell you I’m going to give you that,” she told the defendant.

But, she said, there was nothing she heard which made the mandatory minimum “unjust”.

“It’s a nasty knife with a very sharp blade, which could have caused somebody to die or be seriously injured,” District Judge Dickens said.

King, of Ferndale Road, was jailed for four months, once his early guilty plea was taken into account.