A HOMELESS man caught with a large meat cleaver in the middle of Bradford has been warned by Bradford’s top judge not to make his mental health problems worse by taking spice.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, said the psychotic drug was so cheap that it was often used by those living rough on the streets.

Marcin Staszewski, 38, was reported to the police by a cleaner at Albion House in Vicar Lane who saw him with the meat cleaver on April 22, 2020, Bradford Crown Court heard today. Prosecutor Paul Canfield said the Polish national was apprehended by officers searching the area for him. He was sitting on the ground in Field Street with his belongings in plastic bags around him.

When he was arrested shortly before midday, the police seized the meat cleaver from one of the bags.

Staszewski said he was homeless, sleeping rough and eating out of bins. He had found the meat cleaver near to a school and kept it.

He told the police he didn’t think he was breaking the law because he wasn’t doing anything with it and had no intention of harming anyone.

The eye-witness conceded that he wasn’t threatening anyone but they were panicked about the size of the cleaver, the court was told.

Staszewski was in breach of a suspended sentence order imposed just two months earlier for carrying several knives and an offensive weapon, Mr Canfield said.

On February 6, 2020, he was jailed for six months, suspended for six months, by Bradford and Keighley magistrates.

The offences were committed in similar circumstances in September, 2019, the court was told. A member of the public reported that a homeless man on Leeds Road in Bradford was in possession of the blades.

No mitigation was heard today because Staszewski’s barrister was unable to attend the hearing.

Judge Mansell said that for the second offence of possession of a bladed article in a public place, Staszewski must receive a minimum sentence of six months.

But he had mental health problems and had spent several months in hospital while remanded in HMP Leeds since October.

He was jailed for 12 months but he had served his sentence and would be released straight away on licence, Judge Mansell said.

He made a deprivation order on the meat cleaver and told Staszewski, who was assisted by a Polish interpreter, that his immigration status was unclear.