Man jailed after handing kitchen knife to Greenock pub customer

Dylan Sewell - who had told the man to get rid of the knife outside the town's Horseshoe Bar - sparked a near year-long police appeal to trace him.

Sewell, 23, is currently serving a jail term for a separate knife incident in which he attacked someone with a blade in the Hamilton area.

Now a further eight months will be added to that existing 21-month sentence for the Greenock offence after a sheriff ruled that there was no alternative to custody in the case.

Sewell previously admitted to being in possession of the large kitchen knife in Greenock town centre nearly two years ago.

The sheriff court was told that he handed the black-handled blade to a customer standing outside The Horseshoe Bar on Kilblain Street before fleeing the area.

A prosecutor said: "Around 1pm on August 24, 2022 a witness entered the bar then was later seen outside smoking when they were approached by the accused.

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"They engaged in conversation.

"The accused showed the witness that he was in possession of a black-handled kitchen knife. He handed it to the witness and asked him to get rid of it before making off on Kilblain Street.

"The witness entered the pub, informed staff and told them to contact police.

"The accused went untraced."

The incident was captured by CCTV cameras outside the pub but Sewell, from Uddingston, was not charged until almost a year later - despite police issuing a missing person appeal the next day.

Police issued an image of Dylan Sewell as part of an appeal to trace him following the August 2022 incident (Image: Police Scotland)

Defence solicitor Aidan Gallagher said Sewell had the weapon with the intention of self-harming.

Mr Gallagher said: "It is not entirely clear to him or I why he was in this area.

"He then engages with the witness and hands the knife over to that person.

"There must have been a realisation on his part that he should not have had it on his person.

"At least some credit can be given to him for handing it over to a responsible person."

Sheriff James Varney said he had 'absolutely no confidence' that Sewell would comply with a community-based order and sentenced him to eight months imprisonment instead, beginning in mid-April.