A tenant who threatened his landlord with a knife has escaped a jail term.
The Warrington Guardian reports how Greg Nurse, of Long Lane, Orford, attacked landlord Mr Riaz when he visited the rented property to discuss Nurse’s rent arrears.
Philip Clemo, prosecuting, said: “The defendant said he was planning to leave the property and all his possessions in it and Mr Riaz asked him to sign a disclaimer.
“He scrumpled the papers into a ball and shoved them down the front of his boxer shorts and started to become agitated.”
Warrington Crown Court heard on Friday that 38-year-old Nurse started pushing Riaz before shouting and swearing in his face. Nurse punched Riaz three times as, terrified, he tried to call the police.
Nurse then jumped on top of him and tried to strangle him before running into the kitchen to get a weapon. He came back brandishing two kitchen knives and said he wanted to stab Riaz after picking up a broken piece of ceramic mug.
A neighbour burst into the flat and helped calm Nurse down before he broke down into tears.
Mr Clemo added: “He told police during interview he had acted like a jackass and wanted to apologise to everyone.
“He said his ego and pride had taken over.”
The court heard how the victim suffered cuts and scrapes to his face and said he had been suffering from anxiety and sleepless nights.
Nurse had no previous convictions and was described as a man of ‘good work ethic’ after moving to the country a few years ago.
David Rose, defending, said: “The incident occurred during a relationship break down and he had fallen into debt after moving into private accommodation.
“It was a low point of his life and he’s since completed a conflict management course through work.”
Judge Rachel Smith handed Nurse a 26-week sentence suspended for 12 months and 100 hours unpaid work.
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Comments
Lets call Judge Rachel Smith to comment, lets twitter her and if she hasn't responded by the end of the day then we can only presume there was a conflict and that she and the tenant are indeed very close and there there is obviously a conflict of interest. No response by the end of the day is clearly an admission of guilt form Judge Rachel Smith.
Come on Judge Rachel Smith answer the public who pay for this wonderful legal system you owe us a response you wonderful clever lady.
I hope that someone attacks Judge Rachel Smith, preferably with no witnesses around, so she knows how it feels. What an asshole!
The only thing missing is a comment from the arseholes at shelter defending the poor tenant.
No justice in this country, its a absolute disgrace.
Yet another example of the unequal treatment between landlords and tenants . Tenants seem to be Teflon and get away with pretty much everything, including non payment of rent, avoiding eviction, benefit fraud etc etc and landlords (the true victims in many cases) get done for some minor misdemeanours such as an incorrect signature on a deposit form.
Does this govt and judiciary really want to piss off the whole of the PRS? I bet this story would have been all over the media had the landlord attacked the tenant rather than the other way round. I think there are more rogue tenants out there than rogue landlords - strange how we don't hear too much about them, isn't it?
It's clearly the landlords fault for demanding rent. I mean what right does a landlord have to enter his property and even expect rent from a tenant. He should have know this poor love had blown his money on fags and booze and therefore couldn't afford the extortionate rent and let him stay there until his LUCK changes. The judge is clearly a balanced fair and perceptive character. I give up
Wow, clever judge, so the tenant doesn't pay his rent, beats up the landlord and pulls a knife on him and gets rewarded with a course, a certificate and a payrise.
Well done to the judge, you really a credit to the country.
I presume the judge and the tenants were very very close friends.
What a wonderful legal system and what a great example to set tenants.
Well done judge, hope your proud.