Booze and drug-fuelled Middlesbrough man had 'evil' machete

Clayton Holmes had spent the previous night drinking and taking cocaine before hopping in the taxi his friend had ordered, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The 26-year-old took exception to the driver having in-cab video surveillance before pulling out the ‘evil’ looking knife and thrusting it towards the man’s face and demanding he stop the car.

Footage from inside the vehicle showed Holmes's friend telling him to put his knife away before everyone got out of the cab.

Charlie Thompson, prosecuting, said the defendant became agitated with the driver and started shouting at him.

He said: “The defendant said - ‘Here you, here you bruv, stop where you’re going now’. He then pulled out a large machete from his jacket and pointed it at the driver’s face and demands that he turns the vehicle off.”

Mr Thompson said everyone got out of the taxi and Holmes continued to be threatening before striking the rear bumper of the taxi with the machete.

The court heard how the defendant was arrested shortly after the incident but refused to watch the footage of the incident from inside the taxi.

Clayton Holmes (Image: Cleveland Police)

Holmes, of Eastland View, Cargo Fleet Lane, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour with a bladed article in public and criminal damage following his arrest on June 29 this year.

Kelleigh Lodge, mitigating, said Holmes had been working and sorting his life out before he broke his ankle and spiralled back into drug use.

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She said: “He is genuinely ashamed of his behaviour. He is disgusted by it. He cannot believe that he has done it.”

Recorder Taryn Turner sentenced Holmes to 20 months in prison for both offences.

“When entirely unprovoked you pulled out the most vicious and evil looking weapon – a large machete – from inside your coat,” she said.

“You pointed that machete towards the face of the taxi driver demanding that he turn the vehicle off – I can quite understand why he was genuinely in fear for his life.”