Man who had knife and imitation pistol in Bradford in court

Khairul Amin smiled and smirked during the 40-minute sentencing at Bradford Crown Court, during which he appeared via video link from HMP Leeds.

Prosecutor Philip Adams said 34-year-old Amin was seen playing with a five-inch-long knife during a visit to Bradford Royal Infirmary in the early hours of January 25 this year.

Amin had gone to the A&E department the previous evening. Several hours later at around 5am another patient saw him produce a serrated kitchen knife with a pointed end and five-inch blade and “play with it on the floor”.

The A&E department at Bradford Royal Infirmary

His behaviour was reported to staff, who immediately called the police.

When they arrived Amin was lying barefoot on the floor in the waiting area.

He was arrested and taken into custody where the knife was found in his jacket pocket.

He said he had taken the knife from his mother’s kitchen and had gone to the hospital to get help. He told police he would have harmed himself if doctors had not helped him.

On February 14, a female motorist was waiting at traffic lights at the junction of Shipley Airedale Road and Barkerend Road when Amin stepped out in front of her car and “swaggered” across the road.

She saw that he was holding a pistol by his side in his right hand as he headed in the direction of The Broadway shopping centre

Alarmed, in shock, and fearing for her safety and that of her seven-year-old grandniece who was also in the car, she called the police who sent an armed response unit. Amin was discovered in the toilets at The Broadway.

The pistol, which was discovered in his hoodie, was found to be a gas-powered pellet handgun. Amin also had multiple ball bearings, a gas canister, and a locking knife on him.

Mr Adams said Amin had bought the weapons a day earlier as he wanted to be arrested because he had nowhere to live.

He said: “He suggested that he had been deliberately carrying the weapon so that he would be arrested and sent into custody.

“Then he made a bizarre comment about murdering somebody if he wasn’t sent to prison.

“He said he carried the knife for self-defence having been attacked in the past.”

The court heard that unemployed Amin, who came to the UK 15 years ago as a refugee from Myanmar as part of the UN resettlement programme, had experienced “a dreadful childhood”.

Bradford Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

He had had “a long connection” with mental health services although there had been no diagnosis on a mental health disorder.

Excessive drug use was thought to have played a role in his behaviour.

Amin pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing a bladed article in public as well as possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Mitigating, Andrew Stranex said he had sought to draw attention to himself rather than be a threat to others.

He added: “The closed-circuit television footage of his appearance at the hospital shows frankly bizarre behaviour rather than threatening behaviour.”

He said the imitation pistol was not used to threaten anyone and that Amin claimed he was on his way to return it to the shop where he had bought it when he was caught.