A DRUNK man seen waving a knife around near a town centre hotel just days after being put on a suspended sentence has been jailed for 10 months.

John Dorman claimed he found the large blade stuck in the ground and was on his way to hand it in when he was spotted with it.

Now after telling the 39-year-old the court can't keep giving him chances for his offending a judge sitting at Swindon Crown Court sent him to prison.

Tim Hills, prosecuting, said just after 9.30pm on Tuesday, October 10, police in a marked car on Henry Street saw him with the large kitchen knife.

He said he was shouting at a group of youths close to the Holiday Inn while holding the weapon.

On the previous Friday Dorman, who has three children, had appeared before magistrates for again breaching a non molestation order.

Mr Hills said he had been in a volatile relationship with his partner and the order was imposed following earlier offending.

And he said a few days earlier he also went to the BP garage on Bridge End Road putting £30 worth of petrol in his van and leaving without paying.

When he was questioned he said that he had found the knife lodged in the ground and was going to hand it in when he was spotted with it.

He said that when he went to the garage he had tried to use a fuel card to pay but it had been cancelled, so he left his details but then failed to return and pay.

Dorman, formerly of Culvery Court, pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article, bilking and breaching a suspended sentence.

Tony Bignall, defending, said that alcohol had been a problem and it had got worse since his children were taken in to care.

Although he accepted breaching the non molestation order he said that often she had contacted him.

On the day of the knife offence he said that he had been to visit his mother, who is in her 70s, in hospital and felt quite despondent after.

He said he was upset that at the aged of 39 he was living in a hostel having lost his job, his partner and children, and drank too much again.

Jailing him Judge Robert Pawson said: "The courts have time and again tried to assist you, you have had various community orders over the years.

"On October 10 you were found drunk, at night, carrying a knife. A very serious offence.

"That was within two, three, four days of you receiving a four month sentence of imprisonment, suspended for two years, for various breaches of non molestation orders.

"I am afraid the courts can't continue for ever taking exceptional course to assist you. If you continue to reoffend you leave the court with no alternative.

"Mr Dorman you have an opportunity to turn your life around. If you don't do it what Mr Bignall says will be right: you risk leaving your children without a father."