A DRINK driver who crashed his car and was found with a foot-long knife has been sentenced.

Mohammed Rahman, 47, was found to be more than twice the legal limit for alcohol when he was arrested by police on the A595 at Askam last year.

The driver pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article and drink driving and was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence at Preston Crown Court yesterday.

Prosecutor Jeremy Grout-Smith told the court the offence happened on October 20.

He said the police found the defendant with 84 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, more than double the legal limit of 35.

Mr Grout-Smith said: "Police were called to the scene of an accident on the A595 at Askam.

"They found the defendant sat on the driver's side of his car which had left the carriageway.

"The roadside fence had been pushed into a field.

"The officer could immediately smell alcohol.

"He was found with a large knife that was in the pocket of his jacket, which was about a foot long with a five-inch blade.

"He told police he was being pursued by 'Bangladeshi terrorists'."

The court heard the defendant had suffered with schizophrenia and had recently been a patient on the psychiatric ward at Furness General Hospital.

Letters from Rahman's wife and sister-in-law were put forward in his defence.

The defendant, previously of Ullswater Close in Ulverston, gave his address as Burlington Road in Stoke.

Judge Beverley Lunt sentenced him to a total of four months in prison for both offences, suspended for a year.

She also banned him from driving for two years and ordered to carry a 30-day rehabilitation requirement.

Judge Lunt told Rahman: "Alcohol and schizophrenia are never going to be a good mix.

"You must not drive when you have been drinking. You could've hurt somebody or you could've hurt yourself.

"Alcohol will never agree with medication."