A MAN from Prestatyn who was involved in a fight at a pub before being found to be in possession of a knife and a sock filled with stones has been spared jail.

Reece Kenny, 22, of Grosvenor Road, was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for a year-and-a-half, at Mold Crown Court today (November 9).

He had previously admitted charges of resisting a constable, and possession of both an offensive weapon and a bladed article in public.

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Prosecuting, Oliver King told the court that, on June 3, Kenny was at The Cross Foxes pub, on Meliden Road, when landlady Linda Power became aware of a “commotion” in its beer garden.

She saw Kenny, who she recognised from being at the pub previously, “punching and lashing out” at others indiscriminately.

Ms Power and others attempted to calm the situation, which resulted in Kenny hitting her on her right cheek, albeit not causing her injury or discomfort.

He was ushered out of the beer garden, shouting: “Don’t f***ing touch me”, and according to Ms Power, seemed “intent on fighting anyone he could”.

Kenny then punched another male, with whom he became embroiled in a fight on the ground, and from which he sustained an injury to his face.

After he was removed from the premises, he returned a short time later, with his shirt removed and carrying a sock in his right hand, appearing “tensed up” and “clearly ready to fight”.

He was guided away from the pub before heading down Prestatyn’s High Street; by now, police had been called.

Police Constables Williams and Taylor found Kenny sat on a bench on the High Street; one of them then attempted to detain him.

But Kenny became “agitated” and attempted to resist the officer, before trying to run away, hitting PC Taylor in the mouth as he did so.

The officer managed to handcuff him eventually, and when Kenny was searched, a lock knife was found in his shorts.

This, he claimed, he used for his job with an e-cigarette company.

When interviewed, Kenny accepted becoming involved in a confrontation at the Cross Foxes, and said he returned to the pub to retrieve his mobile phone and coat.

He said he had his sock in his hand for “protection” but denied putting anything in it, though he was then played video footage showing the sock being weighed down by items inside it.

Defending Kenny, who had six previous convictions for 10 offences, Simon Rogers said: “At no stage has he produced that knife.”

A father-of-two, Kenny was said to have a “good work ethic”, with Mr Rogers adding that “things were going well for him” prior to this incident.

He has not drank alcohol since, and is “ashamed” of his behaviour, Mr Rogers said.

Asking for a suspended custodial sentence, Mr Rogers deemed Kenny to have a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, albeit acknowledging that he is in the “last chance saloon”.

Sentencing, Recorder Neil Owen-Casey ordered Kenny to complete 35 “thinking skills” sessions, and 15 days’ rehabilitation activity.

Kenny, who is now banned from The Cross Foxes, will undergo a 120-day period of monitored alcohol abstinence, and is to pay a fine of £450 and a victim surcharge of £187.

The knife he had carried was ordered to be forfeited and destroyed.

Recorder Owen-Casey told Kenny: “This all centred around a single event which was fuelled by alcohol. You acted in an impulsive manner.

“It seems to me that you’re probably someone that ‘binge-drinks’, and drinks to such excess that you lose control.

“What you need to do is address your behaviour, so that you don’t come before the courts again.

"Please take this as an opportunity. It is, really, the last chance saloon for you."