'I'm only after one person': Man armed with axe at train station told cops ‘I’m a little bit psycho’
10 May 2023, 06:57 | Updated: 10 May 2023, 07:37
An axe-wielding man, who admitted to being "a little bit psycho", has been jailed for 14 months after being caught at a train station in possession of an offensive weapon.
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Jamie Graham, 26, was seen by police holding a sharp axe behind his back as he spoke to members of the public at Tyne Dock Metro station in the early hours of the morning last month.
A court heard that Graham, who has 59 previous offences on his record, had to be threatened with a Taser by a police officer before he threw the weapon onto the tracks and got down on his knees.
Prosecutors revealed that Graham, of no fixed abode, told officers, "I'm only after one person" and "I'm a little bit psycho" after being arrested.
During his transport to custody, he also claimed, "I will bang him with the axe, he threatened my mother," Newcastle Crown Court was told.
Graham has a previous conviction for carrying a weapon from 2015 and was jailed for having a knife in 2022.
The incident occurred on April 5, when police received a 999 call about a man carrying an axe along Stanhope Road, in South Shields. The male was later found at Tyne Dock Metro Station, where officers approached him with their tasers drawn.
The court heard that a constable had to threaten the 26-year-old with a taser before he threw the axe onto the tracks and got down on his knees.
Fiona Lamb, defending Graham, said that he had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and was carrying the weapon for protection after being threatened himself.
"He can't recall making those comments to the police – he was, in his own words, absolutely mortal. Someone had come to his house with a machete and he had taken the axe in order to protect himself," she added.
Graham made no comments during the interview, according to prosecutor Neil Pallister.
