A MAN has been spared jail after carrying a serrated knife on a high street.

Christopher James Mertha, who also goes by the name of Chris Carrol, appeared at Oxford Magistrates Court on October 8 and admitted:

• Stealing cleaning products from Tesco on Park Road, Faringdon, on August 25

• Damaging a window of a house belonging to a woman in Faringdon between September 16 and September 20

• Being in possession of a serrated knife on Welch Way, Witney, on October 6

• Stealing a £119 pair of hair straighteners from Boots in Witney on October 20

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At court the 29-year-old, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to four months in prison suspended for 12 months.

In the court documents it said the reasons were: “because the offence is so serious and his wilful persistent failure to comply with the requirements of a community order.”

The knife must also be forfeited to be destroyed.