A MAN spotted with two coshes in a bag by police was going to show them to a neighbour, a court was told.

Burnley magistrates heard how Paul Alan Edmondson, 32, had got the coshes for his own protection after his house door had been kicked in.

Edmondson, of Talbot Street, Burnley, was given a 12 month community rehabilitation order, with £118 costs, after admitting possessing cannabis and two counts of having an offensive weapon.

The court was told how police saw the defendant with a carrier bag and at first thought he had a handgun.

Edmondson told officers someone was after him, his windows had been put through and he was trying to get rid of the coshes. He said he had got them for his own protection after his door was kicked in twice.

Richard Taylor, defending, said Edmondson's house had been targeted, the coshes had been at his property and there was no suggestion they had ever been used.

He had been going to show the coshes to a neighbour.