A MAN who “looked evil” as he held a knife and walked towards his ex-partner's new boyfriend said he felt ashamed as he was handed a suspended sentence on Friday, June 29.

Winchester Crown Court heard how Christopher Jackson, of Cambrian Way, Basingstoke, grabbed a knife and approached a man in the street as he was given a ten-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, for threatening a person with a blade in a public place.

The court heard how Jackson’s former partner Emily Mitchell had come to collect belongings from his home on February 22 in an encounter that became heated and turned into an argument.

Miss Mitchell said her new partner, Gavin Whitfield, was outside the home, prompting Jackson to take a four-inch blade in a camouflage case out of a bag in his house saying ‘I’m going to kill him’ and went outside where the two men ended up facing each other, with Miss Mitchell putting herself in between them.

Prosecuting, Dawn Hyland detailed the couple’s experience to the court, saying: “She said he [Jackson] was looking evil and she was fearing for her safety and for her partner’s.

“He was looking at her but not listening to what she was saying, like he was looking straight through her.

“Mr Whitfield described the defendant and knife running towards him, [Jackson saying] ‘I’m going to kill you, don’t think I’m not going to use it, I’m ex-military, I’m not scared to use it’.”

A passer-by said they would call the police, and the couple got into Miss Mitchell’s car, with Jackson going back into his house.

In Mr Whitfield’s victim impact statement, he said: “This incident has left me shaking, I thought it was going to be the end of my life. I’m still shaking now as I’m giving this statement.”

Jackson, who was representing himself at the hearing, told the court: “I wanted to say I feel terrible. I made a massive mistake in my life which brought me to this moment.

“I’m here because what I did was wrong I hate myself for what I did. As soon as I got out and realised what I was doing, I went back inside.

“I would like you to please consider my good character. I have never been in trouble before. I have been completely cooperative with police.

“It was just a stupid thing to do, I do deserve to be punished. I help organise charity events, PTSD is in my family, I help people get out and enjoy life again. I would be gutted to lose that. I lost my job in the military due to hit and run and it’s taken me five or six years to build myself back up. That is why I’m so ashamed of what I did that night.”

As well as a suspended sentence, Judge Cutler also ordered Jackson to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activities to help manage his anger.

In sentencing Judge Cutler said: “It is a serious incident, you have said to me and it is now recorded, you accept you behaved in a way you shouldn’t have done and bitterly regret.

“I’m willing to accept your remorse.

“We all get angry in life so it’s how you deal with it.”