A Wrexham man who was found to have throwing knives in the glovebox of his car has been jailed.

Shaun Lee Nicholas faced a statutory minimum six-month prison sentence because of a previous conviction for possessing a knife in public.

Nicholas, 24, admitted possessing the knives in February.

He was jailed for 27 weeks.

Judge Rhys Rowlands, sitting at Mold Crown Court yesterday, said the defendant received a two-and-a-half year prison sentence in April of last year for dangerous driving.

He was released and on February 16 this year police came across him in a town centre car park in Wrexham.

Nicholas was in possession of three throwing knives which were kept in a pouch in the glove compartment of his car.

They were three knives in a set and the judge said that their nature meant that they were of no intrinsic ornamental value at all.

“They were sharp throwing knives,” he said.

He had them at 11pm at night when he was also in possession of cannabis, for which he had been dealt with at the magistrates court.

He was subject to a release licence at the time and the offence could not be said to be out of character because he had many convictions going back many years.

The previous conviction for possessing a knife went back to when he was aged 15.

Barrister Simon Rogers, prosecuting, said Nicholas claimed at the time that the knives had been a gift from a friend which he received the day before.

He had decided to keep them in the car.

Defence barrister Elen Owen said the car was not roadworthy, it was parked in the car park, and his client had not driven it that night.

The knives were in a pouch in the glove compartment of the locked car and they were not therefore kept in dangerous circumstances.

She said they were very small throwing knives, apparently used in martial arts and other Far Eastern ceremonial practices.

They would not be weapons of choice which one would expect to see involved in street violence, she said.

“He had genuinely forgotten that they were there.”

The defendant had elected crown court trial, and had found it difficult to accept the legal advice that he had been given because he took the view that with them being locked in the car that he was not in possession of them.

The matter had been listed for trial in August but to his credit he had accepted advice and pleaded guilty on the morning of the trial.

Nicholas, she said, was sorting his life out. He was medicated for ADHD and an emotional disorder, and he was due to see a psychiatrist for a long-awaited appointment in Wrexham this week, which he was anxious to keep.

He was starting to turn the corner and get his life in order, said Miss Owen.

“There are positive signs that he is growing up.

“He has a job as a window fitter and he is seeking help with his mental health issues.”