Man jailed after being found asleep with knife in taxi

A man has received a jail sentence after law enforcement officers roused him from sleep in the rear of a taxi, where he was found in possession of a knife. Lewis Thompson was a passenger in a vehicle that journeyed from North Sherwood Street to Roswell Drive, Stapleford, on October 13. Thompson, who was also sought in connection with an assault at a Nottingham pub in June, exhibited abusive behavior after police were summoned to the location when the taxi driver observed the knife. The 27-year-old individual, who has no permanent residence, pleaded guilty to multiple charges and received a 33-month prison sentence at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday. Thompson confessed to committing offenses related to incidents in May and June, alongside the October event. These charges encompassed assault occasioning actual bodily harm, employing threatening words or behavior, public intoxication and disorderly conduct, possession of cannabis, carrying a bladed article in a public area, assaulting an emergency services worker, and impeding a police officer. Testimony presented in court indicated that Thompson engaged in an altercation outside a Beeston pub during May. Ellesse Taylor, representing the prosecution, stated that Thompson appeared before the court following threats to stab both the person he was arguing with and that individual’s mother. She further noted that he resisted efforts to place him into a police van during the occurrence. Ms Taylor reported that on June 29, Thompson became involved in a physical altercation with a man at a pub located in Nottingham city centre. The court was informed that the victim sustained the loss of two teeth and suffered from a swollen lip. On October 13, Thompson entered the taxi, subsequently, Ms Taylor stated he “had fallen asleep and remained asleep even [after] arriving at his destination”. Upon the driver observing the knife on a seat and partly beneath his leg, she contacted the police. Ms Taylor recounted that the defendant “immediately became aggressive” and verbally abusive, prior to revealing he possessed “a container with a large amount of cannabis” within a bag. In mitigation, Lauren Fisher explained that Thompson was “very much struggling to come to terms with the death of his father” in November 2018, and acknowledged resorting to “extremely excessive consumption of alcohol, and on occasions drugs” as a coping mechanism. The court was informed of his 20 prior convictions for 35 offenses, and that a suspended sentence imposed in January was activated during Tuesday’s sentencing. Judge Helen Malcolm KC declared that a custodial sentence was “inevitable”, further noting that the June pub assault was “unprovoked” and “sustained”. “You are now 27, and this is not the first time that you have been before the court for sentence for a substantial number of different offences,” she stated.