Man threatened with knife in row over clothing

A DISAGREEMENT over some borrowed clothes escalated into a furious row in which one man was threatened with a knife.

Cambridge Magistrates’ Court heard this week that 24-year-old Richard Sparrow threatened to stab Jason Rogers at his flat in Ely following a row between the pair over a shirt and trousers.

Prosecutor Laura Mardell told magistrates that the incident had begun in the early evening on July 16 when Rogers arrived home at his girlfriend’s flat to find Sparrow was wearing some of his clothes.

After Sparrow had left the flat that evening, Rogers sent a text message to his girlfriend threatening Sparrow and demanding the clothes were returned.

Shortly after midnight, 24-year-old Sparrow returned to the flat and began shouting at Rogers to come out of his bedroom. He tried to get into the bedroom to confront Rogers and continued shouting abuse at him before heading into the kitchen and grabbing a knife.

Sparrow then threatened to stab Rogers and, fearing for his safety, Rogers contacted police.

Elfreda Safo, mitigating for Sparrow, said: “He did get a knife from the kitchen because he felt threatened but he doesn’t remember saying ‘I’ll stab you’.

“At no stage did he use the knife and he waited at the address until the police arrived.”

Appearing before magistrates on Thursday, Sparrow, of Norwich Road, Stoke Holy Cross, Norwich pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault.

The hearing was adjourned until August 25 for pre-sentence reports to be prepared.