A man found with a Rambo-style knife hidden in his BMW has been spared a jail sentence despite two previous weapons offences. 

Mark Hale, who has 23 previous offences including a history of possessing offensive weapons, had the knife stuffed between seats when stopped by police on George Borrow Road in Norwich on January 30.

The 36-year-old, of Earlham Grove, pleaded guilty at Norwich Magistrates’ Court to possessing a blade in a public place.

Mark Hale was spared mandatory six month jail sentenceMark Hale was spared mandatory six month jail sentence (Image: Newsquest)

He had faced a mandatory six month jail sentence having previously been convicted of carrying a cosh in 2004 and possession of a knuckle duster in 2013.

READ MORE: BMW driver who hid Rambo knife in Norwich faces jail

But after 20 minutes of deliberation magistrates decided to suspend the sentence for 12 months after hearing the large knife had been in his car after he had earlier confiscated it from teenagers at a party. 

“You made a good decision to take this weapon off children but where you went wrong was in what you did next,” they told the father-of-six. 

The Rambo knife was found stuffed down back of seat of BMW stopped on Norwich streetThe Rambo knife was found stuffed down back of seat of BMW stopped on Norwich street (Image: Newsquest)

Matt Diss, mitigating, said he had attempted to do the right thing but had shown “naivety and poor judgement”.

He said: “This is not a case where a man has taken a knife to a nightclub or was walking around on the street with it.

“He had confiscated it for safety. Unfortunately, he then forgot it was in the car and was out with his wife with it still down the back of a seat.” 

READ MORE: Most Norfolk knife crime convictions first-time offenders

He said an immediate jail sentence would have a significant impact on his children, aged between 21 and three, and his seriously ill grandmother.  

Fears about knife crime have seen the introduction of mandatory sentencesFears about knife crime have seen the introduction of mandatory sentences (Image: PA)

Fears about knife crime have seen the introduction of mandatory sentences for those convicted of more than one weapons offence.  

The law states the court must impose a mandatory minimum sentence of six months’ imprisonment unless it is satisfied that there are circumstances that make it unjust to do so in all of the circumstances.