A YOUNG woman seen carrying a bread knife in a Colchester street has escaped being locked up.

A court heard how a concerned neighbour called police after she saw a group of people shouting and swearing outside a flat in Solway Court.

At one point a woman was seen with a large bread knife.

Chelmsford Crown Court was told it was recovered from a flat later when police found it under a baby walker.

Emma Sanderson, 20, of Royal Court, Colchester, admitted being the person with the seven inch knife in the early hours of April 14 this year.

Sanderson was sentenced to a nine-month youth custody sentence suspended for two years and two years supervision.

Judge Charles Gratwicke told her: "Do not come back here.

“If you do, you know where you are going."

The court heard a woman living in flats in Solway Court called police after she saw a disturbance in the street at about 2am.

Sanderson told police there had been some trouble with people who had come to the flat.