'Gentle giant' who approached police with blade in Wellington town centre avoid jail
A man has avoided prison for carrying a large machete-like hedge laying tool in a Shropshire town after a court was told he is an 'intimidating' but 'simple' gentle giant.
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Sixty-year-old Ian Darrall, now of Wrockwardine Wood, had pleaded guilty to carrying the bladed article in New Street, Wellington, on July 25 last year.
Prosecutor Sara Beddow told Telford Magistrates Court on Wednesday that Darrall had approached police officers at 11.55am, near the Telford and Wrekin Interfaith Council building and asked them "why are you robbing people?"
Officers then spotted the blue handle of what was described by them as a 'machete', so they grabbed it and restrained Darrall.
The court was shown body-worn footage of an officer running through Wellington town centre to the scene, grappling with Darrall and removing the large bladed article.
Ms Beddow said Darrall, who was in the dock to be sentenced, had been given a suspended sentence for possession of a knife in 2020.
"There is a mandatory six-month sentence for a second offence," she told the court.
But the court was told that an earlier bench of magistrates had deemed that "exceptional circumstances" applied in Darrall's case so a prison sentence was off the table.
Brendan Reedy, mitigating, told the court that his client could have been described as "simple" in earlier times.
