A DRUNKEN knifeman tried to get rid of the blade in the back of a police car after he was arrested.

Christopher Sudell, 24, had been detained by officers after they were called to a house in Ulster Street, in Burnley, in the early hours.

He had come to the door with a bottle of vodka and was arrested after a complaint from the occupant of the house.

Sudell was seen to throw something behind him as he got into the police vehicle, the town's crown court was told.

He was handcuffed and police found the three inch knife where the defendant had been sitting.

The defendant, of Florence Avenue, Burnley, had admitted possessing a bladed article.

He was given 12 weeks in prison, suspended for a year, with 12 months supervision and six months alcohol treatment.

He had 10 previous convictions and had previously assaulted his father in a drink related incident.

Mark Stuart, for Sudell, said his first priority at the moment was alcohol treatment.

The hearing was told how Sudell had just spent a week working as a roofer and could be taken on permanently.

The barrister went on: "Being on a roof when you are not sober is not perhaps the best place to be.”