A MAN who held a knife up to the throat of a teenager has been jailed.

Trevor Francis O'Neill was convicted of assault at South Cumbria Magistrates' Court.

The 48-year-old had previously pleaded not guilty to the offence, but was later found guilty.

He was then sentenced when he appeared via video link from HMP Wymott in Lancashire.

The court heard that he assaulted the 14-year-old in Barrow on September 12.

According to court documents, the assault was a 'terrifying' event for the child.

It was said that O'Neill held the blade to the throat of the teenager in the presence of other youths.

The court heard there were no injuries caused by the assault.

Magistrates, led by chair of the bench Charles Crewdson, sentenced the defendant to 12 weeks in prison.

Court documents said he had been previously been recalled to prison on an indeterminate sentence having been charged with this offence .

He served nine months behind bars awaiting resolution of the charge.

Following the court case, Peter McCall, the county's police and crime commissioner, spoke out.

He said: "There is absolutely no acceptable reason to carry a knife or weapon in public.

"Anyone who does should expect to be locked away.

"It's just unacceptable.

"To use a knife against a child deserves the strongest punishment in my view.

"I think actually that a 12-week sentence is lenient."

Police said that more than 100 potentially deadly knives were taken off the streets of Cumbria in a dedicated operation.

Operation Sceptre was run by Cumbria Police as part of a national drive to tackle knife crime and stop potentially dangerous blades falling into the wrong hands.

The countywide surrender ran between April 26 and May 2 and saw 106 a knives.

During the surrender the public were able to anonymously hand in unwanted knives, including knives that are prohibited, to surrender bins at police stations.