A CHEF has been cleared after telling a court how he had forgotten he had a knife in his pocket after finishing work in Flintshire.

Gheorghe Nache, 50, who lives at works at the Mountain Park Hotel in Flint, had been arrested after being stopped by police on Sydney Street in the town centre on July 21. However, after a short trial at Mold Magistrates, Nache was cleared of the charge after his explanation about accidentally leaving it in the pocket of his work trousers was accepted by the bench.

Anouska Youds, prosecuting, told the court how Nache had been involved in an incident outside the Dee Inn, on Chester Street shortly after 7pm, and when police made their way to the scene, stopped him on nearby Sydney Street. Officers said Nache was immediately obstructive and detained him for the purposes of carrying out a search.

Nache told officers about the small 6cm long lock knife in his pocket and that it was one he used to open boxes as part of his job working as a chef, which he later confirmed again during a police interview. During the same interview, Nache said how he had been eating alone in the Dee Inn and when he left, got involved in an argument with a group of people outside, who shouted abuse at him and told him to leave.

Nache told the court how the abuse he received was because he was Romanian and along the lines that he “should go back home” and to “stop taking our jobs”.

He went on to say how he had only realised the knife was in his pocket when paying his bill at the pub, but due to the fact it was such a small size, had not considered it would be against the law to have it in his possession anyway. After leaving the pub shortly after 5pm, Nache said he was on the phone to his girlfriend in Thailand when he was approached by the group of people, including another Romanian man, who offered to sell him drugs, and when he said no, they all became abusive.

His solicitor Simon Simmons asked him why he had the knife in his pocket that day and he replied that he had left work at around 12pm and gone straight to his friends house, where he stayed for a couple of hours, having two beers, before he left there and went to the Dee Inn, where he ate a meal and had three more beers. Nache told Mr Simmons how he would use the knife in his kitchen to cut the plastic packaging away from items of food, such as boxes of chips.

Mr Simmons said his client had clearly forgot about the knife in his pocket and had been on his way home when the incident occurred and that there was no evidence he had brandished the knife or threatened anyone with it.

The Magistrates accepted Nache had simply been forgetful in leaving the knife in his trouser pocket and although some time had passed after he had realised he had it, said it was not feasible that he could have discarded it, due it being a tool he needed to carry out his trade.