A man was arrested in a Norwich park after a fearful mother with two small children reported him having a large kitchen knife. 

Darren Milbank, 54, was found with the 20cm long blade in Chapelfield Gardens after police swooped following reports of someone with a weapon.

Serena Berry, prosecuting at Norwich Magistrates’ Court, said: “A witness with two children aged four and six were near the bandstand when the knife fell from the coat of a man holding a can of beer.” 

READ MORE: Norwich station knifeman escapes mandatory jail sentence

Milbank, of Lakenfields in Norwich, pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article in a public place following the incident on May 10. 

The court was told he faces a mandatory minimum six month jail sentence due to a previous offensive weapons conviction in 2019.   

Magistrates adjourned sentencing until November 13 and ordered a pre-sentence report to look at possible alternatives.  

Ian Fisher, mitigating, said: “He feared someone might be coming for him. He would never have used the knife. It was more of a psychological crutch. He wasn’t lying in wait for someone.”