Alan Reid was spotted carrying the weapon by CCTV operators on the evening of Saturday, January 2. Police carried out a search of the area and arrested the 49-year-old on Academy Place, off Academy Street. Reid, who is also known as Gypsy Joe, admitted possession of a bladed article in a public place and was handed six months behind bars at Warrington Magistrates Court on Monday, January 4. Magistrates also told the defendant, of Winmarleigh Street in the town centre, to pay a victim surcharge of £128 and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the knife. He has a lengthy record of previous convictions, and was most recently jailed for eight months in August 2020 for a string of bicycle thefts from outside the Cockhedge Centre.