A KNIFEMAN has been banned from going to Newton Abbot after he approached pedestrians with a blade in each hand while shouting that he would ‘tear them open’.

Jordan Baxter armed himself with the two kitchen knives after passers-by intervened to stop him attacking his ex-partner, who he was dragging around by her hair.

He dropped the weapons into a flower bed in the centre of Newton Abbot after police arrived to break up the confrontation which took place in Union Street at about 2.15am.

Baxter was banned from contacting his partner, who had moved to Devon from their home in Birmingham to escape his domestic violence, but the pair met up when he broke the order to visit the area.

It led to a violent encounter in which friends and other members of the public became involved.

Baxter, aged 24, of Chandon Bar, Solihull, admitted battery and possession of a knife in a public place and was jailed for nine months, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £500 costs and do 150 hours unpaid community work and 25 days of rehabilitation activities.

Recorder Mr Andrew Oldland, QC, amended an existing restraining order to ban any contact with his ex-partner and prohibit him from entering Newton Abbot other than for child contact visits supervised by social services.

He told him that although this was Baxter’s second knife offence, he was not imposing the mandatory minimum sentence because he has already served the equivalent of seven and a half months while on remand or on a qualifying curfew.

He told him: ‘You were seen acting aggressively to your former partner and pulling her by the hair. When others intervened, you produced two kitchen knives.

‘Clearly, you were under the influence of drink and the knives were being used aggressively.’

Mr Herc Ashworth, prosecuting, said the incident occurred in the centre of Newton Abbot in the early hours of August 22 last year.

Baxter was seen assaulting his ex-partner by grabbing her hair and pulling or pushing her around and a witness called the police after seeing him with a shiny object in his hand.

He became aggressive towards people who tried to stop the assault and was heard to shout ‘come over here, let’s do this’ and ‘if you want it, I’ll tear you open’.

Police found him with two knives, with blades of eight and six inches, but he dropped them in a flower bed when they told him to surrender.

Miss Kelly Enever, defending, said Baxter had been working well with probation and social services in the six months since this incident.

He had travelled to Devon with friends for a memorial but then met up with his ex-partner and the trouble had ensued. He now accepts that their relationship was toxic and intends to abide by the restraining order.

He was now living with his family in Birmingham and had been offered a new job which he was due to start next week.

She said he did not take the knives to the scene but had found them in an alleyway during the evening.