Man carried machete in Kettering after being shot at and stabbed

A man hid a machete as he tried to flee police who chased him in Kettering - before running straight into a parked car when he was sprayed with Pava.

Josiah Johnson immediately ran away when officers arrived at the scene of a disturbance after being alerted by CCTV operators.

He then hid the zombie style weapon, which was bigger than a foot long, as he desperately tried to evade police.

But officers caught up with him and found the weapon, which he said he was carrying for his own protection after being shot at and stabbed.

Today (Friday) at Northampton Crown Court he was jailed for six months.

The court heard police visited Thorngate Street at about 11pm on October 18 this year and saw two men on bicycles. One of them was 23-year-old Johnson, who was wearing a stab vest and ran away when he saw them.

A chasing officer spotted him reach into his trousers and hide something near a car before running off again. When the constable caught him Johnson would not co-operate and had to be sprayed with Pava.

But, with his eyes in agony from the spray and with his vision blurred, he ran straight into a parked car before being arrested.

He was found with cannabis and another officer soon found his weapon nearby.

Prosecuting, Andy Peet said: "Another officer searched the space around the car where he had stopped mid-chase.

"That officer found a machete in a sheath.

"It's a double-sided bladed machete that looks to me at least a foot long, likely more than a foot long.

"It's a nasty, dangerous implement."

Johnson, of Douglas Road in Birmingham, admitted possessing a zombie style knife and cannabis when he appeared before magistrates on October 20.

He was on licence at the time having been jailed for three years and eight months in 2019 over a horror head-on crash. He drove on the wrong side of a dual carriageway, leaving a mum with serious injuries and her four children hurt.

After his arrest in Kettering he was recalled to prison at HMP Peterborough, where he appeared from over videolink.

The court heard he had convictions for 26 offences dating back to 2011 including robbery, machete and knife offences and possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

Mitigating, Zaheer Ifzal said Johnson has a young child which was his "incentive" to get back on track.

The court heard he had got involved with the wrong people as a youngster without even leaving his house having been influenced by people he met playing video games.

Mr Ifzal said Johnson has autism, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. A short time after he was last released from prison the car he was in was shot at 'for no reason' before he was stabbed in the chest a couple of months later.

That was why, Mr Ifzal said, he wore a stab vest and made the 'fateful' decision to carry the blade.

But, jailing him for six months, Recorder Dean Crowe told Johnson: "You have clearly had difficulties in your life...however they do not provide an excuse for what you have done."

Johnson will serve half in custody before being released on licence for a further 12 months.