A homeless man caught by Police with a knife in his bag late at night told a court he needed it to “cut bread and cheese at work”.

Ralston Outerbridge, 53, was handed a three-year suspended jail sentence after his argument failed to convince Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner yesterday.

Officers had searched Outerbridge’s bag after growing suspicious when he appeared to try to “dodge” them on his pedal cycle in Devonshire at 2.30 a.m. yesterday, Magistrates’ Court was told.

Pleading guilty with an explanation to possession of a bladed article yesterday, Outerbridge told Mr. Warner he had packed the knife in his bag ready to take to work the next day.

The defendant said he had taken the bag with him when he visited a friend in the evening and still had it when he went out to get some cigarettes. He claimed it was normal practice to take his belongings with him because he had no fixed address and currently stayed at the Salvation Army.

“Before I go to work, I place everything I’m taking to work in my bag,” he said.

“I have my money, my knife, my wallet and all my other valuables.

“I was going to get some cigarettes and I couldn’t leave my bag behind so I brought it with me.”

When Mr. Warner asked why he needed the weapon, Outerbridge replied: “I use the knife for my job. We have a microwave and toaster and I use it to cut my bread and cheese and stuff at lunchtime.”

Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney had told the court Police were on duty in Devonshire when they saw the pedal cycle approaching.

Mr. Mahoney said Outerbridge left the main road and officers guessed he had seen the Police car and decided to dodge it. They caught up with him, searched his blue and black bag and found the knife.

Outerbridge argued: “I was coming through Devonshire Rec. I wasn’t dodging no Police.”

Llewellyn Peniston, defending, said Outerbridge had little choice other than to keep the knife in his possession.

He said: “This defendant lives at the Salvation Army. They live with all their worldly possessions by themselves. I expect that backpack had everything he owned in life.”

Mr. Warner responded: “So homeless people should be allowed to walk around with machetes?”

“You and I don’t come out every day with a backpack with everything we own in it,” replied Mr. Peniston.

“Whatever he needs is in that backpack, whether it’s a toothbrush or a knife or whatever.”

Explaining why Outerbridge was out late at night, Mr. Peniston said: “All of us have been at a friend’s house at some time early in the morning and left by the front door — or by the window — for whatever reason, and we try to find our way back home.”

Mr. Warner concluded: “The defendant’s explanation does not show good reason or lawful excuse for having a bladed weapon.”

He sentenced him to three years in prison, suspended for 24 months.