A MAN has admitted threatening another person with a knife during a late night incident outside a Lake District bar.

Lee Stuart Atherton, 30, admitted one offence when he appeared at Carlisle Crown Court.

Atherton pleaded guilty to unlawfully and intentionally threatening another with an article with a blade or point - a kitchen knife - doing so in such a way that there was an immediate risk of serious harm to that other person.

His crime was committed outside the Lily Bar on Lake Road, Ambleside, at around 10pm on December 16 last year.

His barrister, Kim Whittlestone, asked for the case to be adjourned for a pre-sentence report which could assess alternative sentencing options to immediate custody.

“The defendant had lost his father (before the incident). He was extremely emotional and was in drink,” said Miss Whittlestone. “It has been six months now since the offence, he has abstained from drink, has a two-month-old child and is in employment.”

Recorder Michael Hayton QC agreed, requested a probation service background report exploring alternative options to immediate custody and granted Atherton, of Castlefield, Ambleside, bail ahead of a crown court sentencing hearing on August 14.

“But you shouldn’t take anything from that in terms of a promise or anything like that,” Recorder Hayton told Atherton. “All sentencing options will be open to the court on that date, up to - and including - custody.”