Blackpool man spared prison after revealing horrific childhood trauma

The young man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he witnessed the horror as a 14-year-old when he was tied to a chair and forced to watch his mum being raped.

He admitted two offences of possessing offensive weapons in public and told the court he was still haunted by the childhood trauma.

Defence lawyer Brett Chappell said his client had never before disclosed the traumatic incident to him or other services, such as probation.

Mr Chappell told Blackpool Magistrates: “He stands in the dock and knows he faces time in prison. He has a bad record of carrying weapons and has now pleaded guilty to two more similar charges.

"He has never admitted why he carries weapons even though he does not use them against anyone.

"Now for the first time he has revealed what makes him do it - he had undergone an incident of untold horror as a boy.

"At the age of fourteen he was tied to a chair at his home by a man who then made him watch as the monster raped my client's mother."

A probation report submitted to court revealed the man was now struggling with a crack cocaine and cannabis habit costing him up to £30 a day.

Magistrates heard how police found him with a knife on Singleton Street. In another incident, he was found armed with a claw hammer on Bank Hey Street in the town centre.

He also admitted a bail act offence.

Due to the exceptional circumstances of his troubled childhood, Mr Chappell said his client should be spared jail.

Magistrates agreed with the defence lawyer with Bench chair Colette Woodhouse concluding: “We have found exceptional circumstances - mitigation about previously undisclosed incidents which happened in your past.

“It is for that reason we are not imposing an automatic jail term.”

The young man was given a six month jail term suspended for two years, forty rehabilitation days and ordered to complete a six month drug programme.

He was also ordered to pay £239 costs.