Convicted murderer brandished knife in Colchester row

Leon Sobers had gone with the man to the home of a woman he knew in Granary Court and she later told police she’d been “terrified” during the incident.

While they were at the flat Sobers, who’d arrived uninvited carrying a bottle of vodka, had been aggressive towards the man and had gone into the kitchen and picked up two knives, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

The woman was concerned about what might happen and had left the room to call the police and when she returned she saw Sobers leaning over the man, said Lynne Shirley, prosecuting.

Sobers had left the flat and had gone to another address where he was arrested by police who found him sitting in a deckchair in the garden.

Sobers, 42, of Haven Road, Colchester, admitted affray.

Leon Sobers (Image: Essex Police)

Jailing him for 12 months, Judge Emma Peters said he had a “very violent” background including convictions for murder, wounding and robbery.

She said Sobers had gone to the woman’s flat with the man who had been a friend and it wasn’t clear what had caused an argument between them.

She said the woman in whose flat the argument had taken place had been “utterly terrified” after Sobers went into the kitchen and picked up two knives.

She said Sobers had brandished the knives during the incident but there was no suggestion of them being used to harm the other man.

Steven Dyble, mitigating for Sobers, said his client hadn’t come into physical contact with the other man involved in the incident and hadn’t stabbed him.

“During the course of a row with a friend he stood up and brandished a knife,” said Mr Dyble.

He said although Sobers had a conviction for murder he had not wielded the knife and had been convicted on a joint enterprise basis.

Sobers was involved in a robbery in Ipswich in 2000 which resulted in the death of a woman outside a pub.