A MAN has been jailed after a court heard he barricaded himself in his bedroom with knives the day after his mother’s funeral and made threats to stab police officers.

He also indicated he had a gun – but no gun was found, a court was told yesterday.

Armed police and a trained police negotiator were called in to persuade Sean Christopher Kenny to come out of the house in Buckley.

After speaking to solicitor Gary Harvey on the telephone Kenny, said to have taken drink and drugs, gave himself up.

He admitted an affray charge at the family home in Elm Grove on August 9 and was jailed for four months yesterday.

A restraining order was also made for him not to approach his brother Ben Kenny for the next year.

District Judge Andrew Shaw, sitting at Flintshire Magistrates Court, said the drunken Buckley affray occurred five weeks after he assaulted a customer at a Newcastle nightclub and four days after he had been due in court for the North East assault but failed to turn up.

In Elm Grove he told officers and others he had weapons and placed them in fear that he would use them.

Kenny, who had been living with a friend in Leeswood, near Mold, received a concurrent one month sentence for the nightclub assault.

Prosecutor Justin Espie told the Mold court police received a call from Kenny’s brother on Friday, August 19, saying he was at the house and was refusing to leave. By the time police arrived he had left and all was quiet.

But a couple of hours later, at about 4pm, the brother again called the police to say Kenny had returned to the property. He had barricaded himself in a bedroom and had threatened to stab the next person who walked through the door.

Kenny had a Samurai sword and a number of knives with him. Armed officers and a police negotiator arrived.

Kenny claimed he had a pistol, he asked if he pointed it at the police would they shoot him, and he also said they were lucky his brother had taken a handgun from him.

Following negotiations he was arrested. It was stressed no gun was found but a large quantity of knives were – four ornamental swords and five kitchen knives were recovered.

The brother told police there had been problems with Kenny, mainly because of his drug and alcohol problems.

It was alleged the family had found out he had stolen money from his mother while she was on a life support machine. She had since died.

That night he had been asked to leave, he refused and the police were called. But Kenny had said: “The first copper that walks through this door is getting stabbed.”

Mr Espie said the incident occurred when emotions were running high. It was the mother’s property, she had passed away and there was a dispute over ownership of the property. He said a restraining order not to approach the brother would be appropriate.

Bethan Jones, defending, said Kenny had an unenviable record but he had been in full-time employment which had kept him from serious offending.

He worked in the construction industry, his employers were aware of the proceedings but were being supportive and were willing to have him back.

Miss Jones, who suggested a suspended sentence, said the affray took place the day after his mother’s funeral. He accepted he went to his mother’s property which held so many memories for him.

He was heavily intoxicated and had very little recollection of the incident. After the funeral he drank to excess and to a lesser extent took drugs he was using as a crutch.

He barricaded himself in his own bedroom having surrounded himself with items and he did not want anyone to enter “his little bubble”.

The threats he made were entirely empty threats. There was no gun in the premises and his brother was aware there was no gun.

It was appreciated the police would not have known that and he fully understood why they acted as they did.

A police negotiator asked him to leave, he spoke on the phone to his lawyer who also told him to leave, and he did so.

“There is no suggestion that he was brandishing weapons or anything of that sort,” Miss Jones said. “It was a ridiculous situation to put himself and the others in.

“He accepts he put people in fear and he apologises to all parties for that.”

In a report of the initial Sean Christopher Kenny court proceedings, which appeared in the Flintshire Leader on August 23, it was wrongly stated that prosecutor Justin Kenny had told Wrexham, Magistrates Court: “Kenny’s brother took a handgun from him.”

We apologise for this error.