A drunk grandpa was wrestled to ground by Caffe Nero customers after pulling a knife on a group of boys. Stewart Talbot, 64, chased the children after disrupting their birthday picnic, reports Hull Live.
Hull Crown Court heard that a 13-year-old boy and his friends were sitting in a public garden when Talbot approached on November 13, 2022, at about 3pm. Julia Baggs, prosecuting, says the group were in Queens Gardens when the defendant told them: "You are nice people." The boys replied back: "You are nice too".
However, Talbot later returned back to the group and said: "Do you want me to slap you?" A boy asked him what his problem was and Talbot told him: "I don't like you" and used a vile racial slur. The grandfather added: "Go back to your own country."
The boys reacted to the abuse by falsely accusing the 64-year-old of being a paedophile. Following their claims, he reached into his pockets and pulled out a Stanley knife with a two-inch retractable blade.
A boy swore at him and Talbot warned him: "Don't say that or I will kill you." He walked over to the boys while still holding the knife and they ran off. Talbot put the knife away and followed the group out of the gardens. The boys shouted: "Help, he has got a knife."
The boys ran into a shop and a witness saw him running after them and holding a knife and so alerted the police. Talbot called a female a "sl*t" and pulled out his knife again.
He said: "You don't want to mess with me" and was heard using a racist term again before turning his attention to some girls. People came out from a Caffe Nero and the defendant was restrained on the ground.
The angry grandpa was drunk and said: "They are accusing me of being a paedophile and I'm not." The customers took him to the ground and the knife was taken from him.
Ben Hammersley, mitigating, says that Talbot, who has no previous convictions, had been drinking heavily that day. He added that there was also an element of provocation because he took issue to being called a paedophile and used a racial insult.
Mr Hammersley said: "He can't recall precisely what he said but he accepts that this is something that he may well have said. This sort of language is not something that is in his nature ordinarily. He doesn't offer any excuse or explanation for his behaviour."
Judge Kate Rayfield says that the defendant showed "hideous behaviour" especially towards the boy that he racially abused. She said: "What you did must have been terrifying for him and utterly offensive. He was scared, angry and in fear."
Talbot was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence, 20 days' rehabilitation and was banned from the Queens Gardens area for two years.
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