A drunken man who wielded a "vicious" knife in the street at night has been jailed for 20 months.

Nitu Babu Das was stopped and searched in Ward's End, Loughborough, at 1.45am after a taxi driver told police he had seen him with a weapon.

Mark Bishop, prosecuting, told Leicester Crown Court: "The defendant was in an agitated and intoxicated state.

"He was shouting at a male about 30 metres away.

"He was searched by officers and, from under his coat, a knife was recovered."

Das (23), of Cleeve Mount, Loughborough, admitted possessing a blade on July 25.

The court heard he had 22 previous convictions for offences including assaults.

Adrienne Lucking, defending, said: "There was no actual fight. "He admits he held a knife out, but he had no intention of using it.

"There's no suggestion he has actually used a weapon in a fight before.

"He has issues about not behaving well when he's in drink.

"He's ashamed of his behaviour and ashamed for his family."

Passing sentence Judge Charles Wide QC said he rejected Das's claim – that he had the knife for cutting some wires and forgot it was in his pocket.

He then claimed he accidentally took the knife out with him that night and when he told a friend about it they ended up having an argument and he took it out, offering to hand over the knife to his friend.

The judge said: "You have a bad record and time after time you've been up before the courts for offences of violence. You also have a previous conviction for carrying an air weapon in a public place.

"Last month you were out and about with a vicious weapon in your pocket, a knife.

"I've no hesitation in rejecting your ridiculous explanation.

"You were involved in some kind of an altercation.

"The public are rightly appalled by the way knives are used and carried and the dangers there are when knives are carried in public places, when altercations are likely to take place.

"You accept you got the knife out, but to the probation officer (who prepared a pre-sentence report) you seemed to be minimising the seriousness of what you did.

"The police were called to an altercation, a disturbance, and in that disturbance there were you, and you also had a knife, that you had taken out."