A 25-year-old man who brandished a knife after being threatened by a group of youths on leaving an Evesham nightclub has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Judge Christopher Plunkett told Nazhar Mohammed that knife crime normally resulted in imprisonment, but he accepted that he was not looking for a confrontation.

Mohammed, a Kurdish national, of Port Street, Evesham, admitted having a bladed article in a public place and a public order offence. No evidence was offered on an affray charge, to which he had pleaded not guilty.

Mohammed had been drinking at a nightclub on October 30 last year before going to a nearby restaurant, where there was an altercation. Gareth Walters, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court, said Mohammed became agitated as he was followed to Workman’s Bridge and was challenged to a fight by one of the youths.

He then pulled out the knife with a three-inch blade. The youths fled and locked themselves in their cars.

Mohammed was seen to throw an object over the bridge. He claimed it was a packet of cigarettes, but police later found the knife, said Mr Walters.

He was arrested and later confessed he had been drinking for seven hours in a nightclub, but denied that he was drunk.

Nicholas Berry, defending, said that Mohammed, who had a previous conviction for a public order offence, realised that his crime passed the custody threshold. But the judge said he was suspending the eight-month jail sentence for two years.

Mohammed must be supervised by the probation service for 18 months and carry out 200 hours’ unpaid work.

The judge said the use of knives in situations where young men’s passions were inflamed by drink often led to injury and sometimes even death.