Man sentenced to almost two years for affray and weapons offences

A man who threatened police officers with a syringe after failing to appear at court has been jailed for almost two years.

Sean Michael McCulloch, aged 31, was arrested in connection with an incident on April 27 last year in Corporation Street, Corby, in which a man was stabbed.

He was charged with affray and possession of a knife but later failed to appear in court, so earlier this year the court issued a warrant for his arrest.

When officers from Northamptonshire Police found him in Kettering on July 6, he threatened them with a syringe and ran off, leading to a wanted appeal being issued.

McCulloch, of no fixed address, was subsequently located, arrested and further charged with two counts of assaulting an emergency worker and one count of possessing a sharply pointed instrument in public.

He appeared before Northampton Crown Court on September 28, where having entered guilty pleas to all charges he was sentenced to 14 months for affray and 14 months for possession of a knife, to be served concurrently, plus a further nine months for possession of the syringe, to be served consecutively, making a total sentence of 23 months. No separate penalty was imposed for the two assault charges.

Detective Constable David Bastuba, who investigated some of McCulloch’s crimes, said: “Sean McCulloch was already facing court on serious charges when he decided to compound matters by threatening to stab police officers with a syringe and run away as they sought to bring him to justice.

“None of us come to work to be assaulted, and the fear he caused in using a syringe as a weapon was significant. Both Northamptonshire Police and the courts take a dim view of the use of violence, and I am pleased to see McCulloch behind bars after finally facing up to what he had done. Hopefully his stay in prison allows him time to think about how to make better choices in the future.”

Tackling knife crime is a matter of priority for Northamptonshire Police. Read more at www.northants.police.uk/knifecrime #matterofpriority