A MAN found to be carrying a knife on two separate occasions has avoided jail.

Charles Varnals, 21, was arrested at Colchester North Station on March 14 last year following a confrontation with railway station staff over a ripped £10 note.

On April 3, he was again arrested, this time in Station Road, Hythe, Colchester, where he was found to be carrying a 14 inch kitchen knife and a quantity of cannabis.

He appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court the next day for this offence and was handed a four month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

Despite the incident at the railway station pre-dating this offence, Varnals did not appear at court to answer those charges until November 27.

During that hearing, he admitted possession of cannabis but denied possessing the lock knife at the station. He later changed his plea admitting he was carrying the blade.

Raph Piggott, mitigating, told Colchester magistrates Varnals had complied with the suspended sentence order imposed in April, completing 200 hours of unpaid work.

Mr Piggott said Varnals had tried to pay for a train ticket using a damaged £10 note repaired with tape but was refused.

He said: “It is unreasonable but he should have made a complaint to Greater Anglia.

“He doesn’t do that, he gets into an argument and an officer attends. The folding knife was not something he was going to produce.”

Magistrates accepted the two cases had been dealt with “out of sync”.

Varnals, of Market Lane, Witham, was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for six months. If he commits any further offences, he will be in breach of both suspended sentence orders.