A DRUNKEN man caught in a street with four butter knives and a bread knife has been jailed for 12 months.

Bolton Crown Court heard how alcoholic Donald Ridley, who has a previous conviction for assaulting his mother, was found with the knives in Abbey Lane, Leigh, following an altercation at her home on January 16.

Martin Pizzey, defending, said: "He has little recollection and this is attributed to his drunken state."

Ridley, aged 26, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to committing the offences in breach of a previously imposed suspended prison sentence. The court heard that Ridley has seven convictions but has never been jailed before.

"It is quite clear you have an aggressive alcohol problem," The Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Martin Walsh told Ridley.

"That is the root cause of your offending behaviour.

"It is to be hoped that the prison sentence inevitably imposed for these offences will give you the opportunity of coming out of prison after having spent a period of time free of alcohol."