FURIOUS Fred Samuel brandished a garden fork and then produced a knife at the scene of a fracas on a football field. Samuel drove his 4x4 to Soham Village College sports field after hearing that a teenage boy had been assaulted. He jabbed the fork toward

FURIOUS Fred Samuel brandished a garden fork and then produced a knife at the scene of a fracas on a football field.

Samuel drove his 4x4 to Soham Village College sports field after hearing that a teenage boy had been assaulted.

"He jabbed the fork towards a man, who blocked it and swung it away," prosecutor Delia Matthews told Ely magistrates.

"He then handed the fork over to a female, walked towards his car, and in his right hand he had a yellow handled retractable knife."

The boy and others tried to hold Samuel back, and when police arrived, Samuel handed the knife over to a boy who ran away, added Mrs Matthews.

Samuel, 26, of Queensway, Soham, admitted possessing an offensive weapon, possessing a bladed article, and using threatening behaviour.

The incident began when a heated argument started during a football game at the college on July 3, said Mrs Matthews. An adult assaulted a youth, not realising he was under age.

"Two or three minutes later a green 4x4 came on to the field, Samuel was holding a garden fork, and asked who had hit who," she added.

"When an adult admitted assault, he jabbed the fork towards the man."

Solicitor Lowri Roberts said Samuel worked as a horticultural groundsman at a stud farm, and both the fork and knife were already in his vehicle, because they were used in the course of his job.

"It was a really stupid action," she said. "He comes across as a mild mannered man; it would seem to be completely out of character. It was not thought through at all."

The court ordered a pre-sentence report and adjourned the case for three weeks.