A MACHETE wielding customer has been jailed for terrifying shoppers and staff at an Exeter city centre supermarket.

Jamie McGowan was already drunk before he bought bottles of whisky and Jägermeister and then started behaving erratically in the street outside.

He had an argument with a man who he knew and was seen tossing a small army knife from hand-to-hand before he pulled out the machete and started making bizarre threats.

The other man left and McGowan was seen bouncing up and down on the pavement in Sidwell Street saying: "I’m going to have a word with him. I’ll show him what London boys are about, I’ll bring a piece of him back".

A guard at the Tesco shop was so scared by the encounter that he considered giving up his job.

McGowan left the scene but was seen near the EX4 nightclub two-and-a-half hours later. A doorman at a different club saw him hide the machete behind an electricity box before heading into the club.

Police were called and he was arrested at the entrance and found with the military-style folding knife in his pocket. The 12-inch machete was recovered from its hiding place.

He joked to police "you didn’t find my gun though" but then became aggressive, threatening their families and saying he knew where they lived.

He carried on behaving violently in a cell where he ripped at the mattress with his teeth and tried to stuff it down the toilet.

McGowan, aged 30, of Hobbs Way, Bow, admitted two offences of having a blade in a public place and one of criminal damage to the mattress.

He was jailed for eight months by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: “You were in a worrying state and obviously intoxicated or under the influence of something and all of the while you had two knives which you proceeded to show people.

“You wandered around town with them and turned up at a club, where you intended to go into the club with one of them. That was clearly a very dangerous situation.”

Mr Ian Graham, prosecuting, said the incident began at around 8.30pm on November 15, 2019 when McGowan bought alcohol and started behaving in a drunken and agitated manner in the street.

He took the smaller knife, which had a blade of three-and-half inches, out of his pocket and was flashing it around, throwing it from hand-to-hand.

He then exchanged words with another man, who left the scene, leading McGowan to make threats and lift up his shirt to reveal the machete which was stuck in his waistband.

He took out the weapon and briefly hid it beneath a homeless person’s blanket before retrieving it and leaving the scene with it.

He was next seen outside the Zinc club in Mary Arches Street at 11pm, where a doorman saw him hide the machete before heading into the nearby EX4 club.

Miss Holly Rust, defending, said McGowan is shortly to become a father and plans to change his behaviour so he can play a role in the child’s life.

She said he has no record of carrying knives or other weapons and there were no offences of violence on this occasion.

She said he had not taken the knives to use as weapons but because he was worried about the mental health of his then partner and feared she may use them to self-harm if they were left at their home.

Court Reporter