A man on bail for possession of a knife in public was found with another blade up his sleeve six weeks later.

Blackburn Magistrates' Court heard how John Tofts claimed he was in possession of the first weapon, described as a dagger, because he had taken it off a female friend who was threatening to use it.

Tofts, 31, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing a bladed article in public and causing criminal damage to a window.

He was jailed for a total of 42 weeks.

Victoria Forrest, prosecuting, said the first offence had been the criminal damage. The householder had gone out and when he returned shortly after his front window had been smashed.

The incident was captured on CCTV and Tofts was later identified as being one of three men present at the scene.

Police responded to a report of a shoplifter and were given a description of Tofts who they found in the car park.

He was searched and the dagger was located in his bag. In a statement to police, he said the knife was not his.

He said he had been with a friend 20 minutes earlier and she had a knife. He said he was worried she was going to use it and took it off her.

Police then responded to another report of an offence in St James Street, Accrington, and spoke to several individuals, one of them Tofts.

"They also had information that he may be in possession of a knife, and a small kitchen knife was found in the sleeve of his jacket," said Miss Forrest.

Ben Leech, mitigating, said his client had no recollection of the criminal damage incident but had been shown the CCTV footage and accepted it was him.

"He can only assume the two people he was with had some reason for damaging the property and he simply joined in," said Mr Leech.

He said the female who owned the dagger had been making threats to kill herself.

"He managed to talk her away from that and took the knife off her," said Mr Leech. 

Following his release on that matter Tofts had been jailed for other offences and police had visited him in prison and warned of a threat to his safety if he returned to Blackburn.

"He didn't have an address to go to and he didn't know who the threat came from," said Mr Leech.

"That was why he was carrying the knife."