A psychiatric patient armed himself with a knife and called the police to arrest him after his attempts to contact an NHS crisis team failed.

Martin Fox-Cooper was threatening to harm himself and called police before he went to an all-night branch of Tesco in Kingsteignton to buy the weapon.

Officers arrested him as he left the store with the knife, which had an 8.8cm blade, partially removed from its wrapping.

Fox-Cooper called the mental health crisis team after starting to hear voices while at Newton Abbot bus station. He was not satisfied with their response and so he called the police.

He has a history of carrying knives dating back more than 20 years and is at risk of being sent to jail under new laws designed to crack down on inner city violence.

He will be subject to a mandatory six-month sentence unless a judge decided there are ’exceptional reasons’ not to impose it.

Fox-Cooper, aged 44, who was living at Longford Lane, Kingsteignton, at the time but has since moved to Starcross, admitted possessing a knife in a public place.

Recorder Miss Hannah Willcocks adjourned the case for further medical and probation reports and indicated she may not impose the mandatory sentence.

Mr Paul Grumbar, prosecuting, said Fox-Cooper called the police from the bus station at 11 pm saying he was having a mental health crisis and planned to buy a knife to harm himself or someone else.

Officers guessed that the only shop open at that time was Tesco and intercepted him as he left with the knife in his bag.

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. He had no intention of hurting anyone else.

She said: ‘He phoned the mental health crisis team to get help and give himself a coping mechanism. He was not able to get help from them and so he phoned the police and explained his position.

‘He said he was in crisis and was concerned he was going to harm himself and buy a knife to do that.’