A LANDLORD had a knife on him when he ordered a tenant to leave his property at night, York magistrates heard.
Sarah Tyrer, prosecuting, said police received a report of four people fighting in Kingsway West in Acomb at 10pm.
Officers were told Ben Laycock had told a tenant to leave his property and she had refused to do so immediately.
The tenant later claimed to police that Laycock had threatened to "blow up her new property where she was going," said Ms Tyrer.
Police arrested Laycock and found a bread knife in his pocket.
Laycock, of Kingsway West, Acomb, pleaded guilty to having a knife in public without a reasonable excuse.
He represented himself and said: "I never had the knife out or threatened anybody. I have never threatened anyone with a weapon. I never planned on using it."
He said he had the knife because he himself was moving addresses that day.
Magistrates gave Laycock a 12-month community order with six months' drug rehabilitation and 12 days' rehabilitative activities and ordered him to pay a £114 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs and confiscated the knife.
They told him the order was designed to improve his lifestyle and rehabilitate him.
Ms Tyrer said police took no further action regarding the report of four people fighting.
When they arrested Laycock, he told them he had a knife on him, but when they interviewed him later he did not answer questions.
Ben Laycock, of Kingsway West, Acomb, pleaded guilty to having a knife in public without a reasonable excuse (Image: Frank Dwyer)