A KNIFE-WIELDING drunk who chased a man shouting 'Come here I'm to stab you,' has been spared jail so he can try again to beat his alcohol problems.

Martin Booth wielded the weapon outside a busy Chippenham fish and chip shop during the school holidays.

Passers by were so concerned by what they saw that they filmed the 47-year-old brandishing the blade in the street, Swindon Crown Court was told.

But despite the offence carrying a mandatory six months, Judge Jason Taylor QC suspended the 14-month jail term for two years after hearing Booth is again trying to beat his drink problem.

James Tucker, prosecuting, told how the defendant was a passenger in a car when it pulled up on Langley Road at about 9pm on July 26.

He said another man was being beaten up in the street and Booth got out of the vehicle, asking for a knife to be passed to him.

The footage showed him then chasing the victim, who had just got up from the ground, shouting 'I am going to shank you,' and 'Come here, I am going to stab you'.

Mr Tucker said "He points and gesticulates with the knife towards the victim. At that point sirens are heard as the police have been alerted.

"The driver is heard to say 'Chuck that knife away now,' and he threw it over a wall. The knife was recovered."

He said he had not pointed the weapon at him but when he was shown the recording made by witnesses he accepted he had.

Booth, of Whitehead Street, Swindon, pleaded guilty to making threats with a bladed article.

The court heard in August 2016 he was put on an 18 month suspended sentence with alcohol treatment for another set of assaults.

Claire Hyde, from probation, said he told her that while he accepted issuing the threats he said 'I didn't mean anything,' adding he would not have hurt him.

Prior to the incident she said he had been abstinent, having completed an alcohol treatment programme, but is back on the drink again after a relationship broke down.

Ellen McAnaw, defending, said that he had done well on the suspended sentence before, succeeding in the alcohol treatment before relapsing.

"He is at a loss to explain how he behaved that day. The physical altercation was chiefly between his friend and the other man," she said.

Passing sentence the judge said was concerned that Booth had twice been on alcohol treatment requirements in the past, and was back drinking again.

He imposed a 14 month jail term suspended for two years with 25 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and a six month night time curfew.