A judge has adjourned the case of a man who turned up at a school Halloween disco with a lump hammer to check on his medical condition.

Judge Niclas Parry said that he was concerned that on the one hand it was alleged that the defendant Stephen Griffiths had burst into a school with the hammer.

But he was in a wheelchair when he attended his trial at the magistrates’ court and had the appearance of a sick man in the dock at Mold Crown Court where he used a crutch.

He adjourned the case so that an up-to-date medical report could be prepared on him.

Griffiths, aged 36, a Yodel driver of Plas Road, Rhyl in North Wales was cleared at the magistrates’ court of having the hammer and posing a serious risk of physical harm.

However magistrates at Llandudno found him guilty of possessing a weapon on school premises and sent him on bail to the crown court for sentence.

Griffiths had claimed he took the hammer because he feared being attacked by a teenager and his parent last October in a bullying row.

Prosecuting barrister Matthew Curtis said that the defendant was seen to enter school premises one night in October and he was carrying a small lump hammer.

He was immediately seen by an assistant headmaster who approached him and told him: “You are not going to use that.”

The defendant was taken to a room where the issues were discussed and he was challenged about whether it was appropriate to take a hammer to the school.

He said he would do what he had to do.

The school nor the police had not done anything about his complaints, he said.

He was escorted off the premises.

Interviewed, he accepted that he had attended the school and attempted to justify taking the hammer, said the prosecutor.

But he later accepted that it was not a reasonable thing to do and that people who would have seen him would have been scared.

Probation officer, Tracey Flavell, said that the defendant feared for the safety of himself and another and accepted that he had lost emotional control.

He accepted that he should not have taken the hammer with him.

The defendant had shown genuine remorse, said Miss Flavell.

Defending barrister Sarah Yates said that it was accepted that it was a serious incident.

It was entirely out of character.