A MAN who waved a large kitchen knife in a busy Bradford dessert parlour during Ramadan has been jailed for eight months.

Aaron Coates laughed continually on the video link to Bradford Crown Court today as he listened to the judge’s sentencing remarks from his booth at Leeds Prison.

The former Spice addict turned heavy drinker had 40 previous convictions on his record for 60 offences, including three for possession of a bladed article.

He was on prison licence when he went into Crème de la Crème on Leeds Road at 11pm on April 25 with the large knife.

Prosecutor Camille Morland said Coates, 27, of Sewell Road, Bradford Moor, Bradford, at first denied having it with him when interviewed by the police. He said the admission he made to officers at the scene was ‘a rhetorical question.’

But he ceased trifling with the law and went on to plead guilty to having an article that was sharply pointed in a public place.

Miss Morland said people were out and about on the night of the offence and the parlour was busy. Coates was intoxicated when he went in. He produced the long-bladed kitchen knife and waved it about.

When approached by a group of people he said: ‘Shall I just stab myself?’ The knife was taken away from him and he was co-operative when the police arrived to arrest him.

Miss Morland said that staff and customers in the parlour dealt very well with the incident, keeping it contained until Coates was apprehended.

His previous convictions included possession of a razor blade, criminal damage, drunk and disorderly behaviour and assault on an emergency worker.

Christopher Styles said in mitigation that Coates had not been aggressive with the knife. He was desperate for help and the only person he was threatening was himself.

He had welcomed the arrival of the police and pleaded guilty ten days later.

Coates had been a Spice addict and fallen into the trap of drinking to excess instead.

Recorder Ashley Serr made a five-year restraining order banning him from entering the dessert parlour.

He said families with children would have been present in the café and it must have been a frightening experience for them.

Coates had relevant convictions and he was on licence at the time.

Recorder Serr conceded that he was a recovering drug addict threatening to self-harm as a cry for help.