Burnley fan who threatened to 'cut someone' before game spared jail

Drunk Jason McCabe brought danger to the busy Brickmakers Arms pub on Yorkshire Street, in the town, before the Clarets' game against Tottenham Hotspur last December 23rd.

He was swearing and shouted: "I'm tooled up and ready today for the football. Got my mate Stanley with me. Gonna give someone a Glasgow kiss. "

Burnley magistrates had earlier heard how a witness asked him if he was referring to a "Chelsea grin" - cutting a smile in the cheeks - and McCabe replied: "Yeah, me and my mate Stanley are going to cut someone. We are ready."

McCabe was thrown out and searched and a craft knife with the blade showing was found in his jacket pocket. When he was questioned by police and asked where he would put himself on a scale of 1 to 10 for drunkenness, he said he was about eight.

The 46-year-old defendant, of Stockbridge Road, Padiham, admitted possessing a blade and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. He was committed on bail to be sentenced at Burnley Crown Court, where he has now been given a 12-month community order.

McCabe was sentenced by Judge Andrew Woolman, who also decided against imposing a football banning order.

Prosecutor Mrs Tracy Yates had earlier told the lower court that a member of the door staff heard McCabe in the beer garden, talking about his "mate Stanley" and tapping his left breast pocket. The bar manager decided not to serve him anymore and told police he was bragging about having a knife and cutting someone.

Mrs Yates had said when the defendant was interviewed and asked about a Glasgow kiss, he said it meant putting a blade in the mouth and slicing it into the cheeks.

The prosecutor had continued: "He said he was attacked by a couple of dogs two years ago and now always carries a blade. When he was asked if he had ever used it, he said never. He said he had bought a ticket with a debit card for the match and still had to collect it."