A judge has ordered a psychiatric report on a man who called police to tell them he was armed with a knife.

Martin Fox-Cooper was threatening to harm himself or someone else when he called the police from Newton Abbot bus station, and he was found with a small kitchen knife when he was arrested shortly afterwards.

He had gone to the Tesco store in Kingsteignton Road to buy the knife with an 8.8cm blade which he had removed from its packing when he was stopped outside the shop.

Fox-Cooper has a history of mental illness and had called the Crisis Team earlier in the day to report that he was hearing voices in his head.

Judge Erik Salomonsen called for a report from the psychiatric service and the addiction service when he adjourned sentence at Exeter Crown Court until next week.

Fox-Cooper, aged 44, of Longford Lane, Kingsteignton, admitted possessing a knife in a public place.

The judge warned him: ‘You have an underlying and irrational fascination with knives and have been before the courts before. 

‘You knew what you were doing although you say this was a cry for help. The fact that you have mental health difficulties does not mean that you may not be a risk.’

Miss Anita Noerr, prosecuting, said the case was unusual because the call to the police was made by Fox-Cooper rather than a member of the public.

She said he claimed to be at Newton Abbot bus station and needed help because he was hearing voices and was going to get a knife and use it on another man.

He was arrested later on the evening of February 7 outside Tesco with the 8.8cm knife which he had just bought. He admitted having the weapon in public but insisted he had no intention to harm anyone but himself.

Miss Julie Brimble, defending, said her client had already called the psychiatric service’s crisis team and that his call to the police was a cry for help.

She said no other members of the public had seen the knife and he had not used it to threaten or cause violence.