A “suspicious” man found sleeping in a car outside a health centre was found to have a kitchen knife in a bag and an axe in the boot of the car, a court heard.

Prosecutor Matthew Moore-Taylor told Bradford Crown Court that Ken Anthony Sargeant told police he was a collector of knives and axes by way of explanation when he was questioned.

Mr Moore-Taylor said Sargeant, 47, was seen in the driver’s seat of a vehicle in the car park of Beechwood Medical Centre on Keighley Road in Ovenden, Halifax, shortly before noon on April 9 last year.

The police were called as there was a suggestion it might be suspicious.

Drug paraphernalia was seen in the car and Sargeant was considered to be under the influence of drugs.

A search revealed a large kitchen knife in a satchel around Sargeant’s waist. A black and yellow axe was found in the car’s boot.

When arrested and cautioned Sargeant said the weapons were not his. Later, when asked what he did for work, he said he was an “axe, knife, and scissor collector”.

After initially pleading not guilty to two counts of possession of a bladed article at magistrates’ court he later changed his pleas to guilty.

Mitigating, Rebecca Young said whilst she accepted Sargeant was parked at the medical centre with the weapons in a bag inside the car, there was no suggestion that he was going to get out and go inside.

She said Sargeant, formerly of Club Lane, Ovenden, was homeless at the time and had been sleeping in the car. He maintained that the knife and axe were not his.

Mr Recorder Ian Mullarkey said Sargeant had remained drug-free since being released from custody after breaching a suspended sentence order and was working to address his drug use.

He sentenced him to 16 months imprisonment suspended for 12 months, ordered him to complete 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and undertake 100 hours of unpaid work for the community.

He also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the axe and kitchen knife.