A woman from Buttershaw has been jailed after being found carrying a knife in public for the ninth time.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Claire Heron called police shortly after 8pm on December 27 last year, claiming she had a knife and was “going to stab him up tonight”.

Prosecutor Dan Lee said her device was traced and she was found six minutes later sat in the window recess of the HSBC bank in Bradford city centre. She was wearing headphones and singing loudly in the street.

Officers asked if she had called the police but her behaviour became erratic with Heron telling them that she had a knife.

She was handcuffed and searched and a 22cm-long kitchen knife with a serrated blade was found in her left-hand pocket.

Heron screamed as she was being searched and sought to obstruct the officer.

The court heard that Heron, 27, of Breighton Adown, Buttershaw, suffered from emotionally unstable personality disorder and learning difficulties and had eight previous convictions for 15 offences, eight of which were for possession of knives in public.

She was on licence for an offence of possession of a bladed article in a public place when she was arrested.

Mitigating, Lauren Smith said: “At first flush this woman appears to be someone who has a flagrant disregard for the authority of the courts and the law, but in fact when one looks below the surface you can see that there are very difficult personal circumstances which have led her to where she is today.”

Heron appeared via video link from HMP New Hall where she had been in custody since her arrest.

Sentencing Heron to eight months in prison His Honour Judge Ahmed Nadim said her attitude at the time of her arrest had been one of “truculence and aggression” and that the matter had been aggravated by her eight previous offences.

He added: “When you are released you are going to be supported by the probation services. Take advantage of the offer and I hope we will not see you again in the criminal courts for this sort of offending.

“You will understand that the kind of offences you do commit are serious because they carry with them the risk of harm to the public.

“And in the defence of public if you carry on committing these offences the sentences the court passes will be longer and longer.”

He said Heron would serve four months in jail before being released on licence. He also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the knife she was found with.