(Image: Archive photo)
A knife-wielding drunk who threatened to kill a housemate has avoided jail.
Bradford Crown Court heard how, almost two years ago, Mark Robson, 42, of Fell Lane, Keighley, headbutted and punched the victim.
He had been drinking at the time and became both violent and aggressive towards the other man with whom he shared a property but was not in a relationship with.
Sentencing Robson, Ms Recorder Kama Melly KC said: "You used a knife in order to make threats to kill and indicated that serious violence would be used to fulfil that threat.
"Whilst it is the case that your headbutt and punching of the victim ended up with very limited physical injury, it clearly had an impact to some significance on the victim, who understandably regarded you as a dangerous individual."
The court heard that the victim had not provided a statement or a request for a restraining order.
Recorder Melly said Robson had "a history of serious criminality" but that there had been no court intervention in his life for a considerable period of time.
Robson pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm on October 23, 2024, and failing to surrender to police on January 27, 2025.
He was found guilty after a trial at the magistrates’ court of making threats to kill on the same date as the ABH offence.
In mitigation, the court heard that Robson had endured mental health struggles and other traumatic incidents in his life as well as physical problems associated with a long-term diagnosis of arthritis.
His drinking was described as "a central reason as to why the offending got to the way it did" but that he was at a low risk of re-offending.
He was said to welcome intervention to address his alcohol use.
Taking the threats to kill as the lead offence, Recorder Melly handed Robson 22 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years.
She imposed no separate penalty for the ABH but added two months, to be served concurrently, for failing to surrender.
She ordered Robson to undertake 120 days of alcohol monitoring with 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and the Stepping Stones programme.
Robson must also pay the statutory victim surcharge.