A JUDGE warned of the dangers of carrying knives in public when jailing a man caught by chance with a blade by police hunting the stabber of a Bradford teacher.

Former community worker, Leon Edwards, ran into the side a police vehicle while fleeing a sweep of the city centre following the attack on Vincent Uzomah at Dixons Kings Academy on June 11.

Edwards, 32, of Stuart Court, Swarland Grove, Little Horton, Bradford, was apprehended on Mannville Terrace with a lock knife in his rucksack.

Prosecutor Clare Walsh told Bradford Crown Court yesterday he was one of a group of men on Morley Street who made off on foot.

He emerged from an alleyway and hit the police vehicle.

Edwards told police he had confiscated the knife from youths the previous day and was intending to hand it in but had then forgotten about it.

He was convicted of possession of a bladed article in a public place after a trial at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates' Court in August.

Mrs Walsh said he was in breach of a 12 month jail sentence, suspended for two years, for attempted robbery at a Bradford bookmaker.

Edwards, then a compulsive gambler, became frustrated when he lost money on the gaming machines. He demanded money and smashed a counter screen, the court was told.

His barrister, Kate Bisset, said Edwards just happened to be in the area when the police were looking for the 14-year-old boy who had stabbed his teacher.

The lock knife was in a bag and never produced to the public.

Edwards had kept out of trouble for 16 months after the suspended sentence was imposed.

He had been a community worker and could lead a law-abiding life, Miss Bisset said.

Judge Peter Benson jailed Edwards for 32 weeks for breaching the suspended sentence order, with an extra eight weeks for possession of the knife, totalling 40 weeks' immediate custody.

He said the six-inch weapon had "a fearsome appearance" with a wide blade tapering to a sharp point.

Judge Benson told Edwards: "The dreadful situation that occurred at the local school points up the seriousness of people carrying knives in a public place."

The teenager who stabbed Mr Uzomah was locked up at Bradford Crown Court in August after he admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The 50-year-old teacher thought he was going to die after the attack, which left him needing hospital treatment for injuries to his stomach and bowel.

The boy's 11-year extended sentence included six years in custody and a further five years on licence.

It was stressed in Edwards' case that the attack on Mr Uzomah was nothing at all to do with him.