A man was arrested in Dunfermline, Scotland, on Saturday for carrying a potato peeler in a public place “without reasonable excuse” and faces up to four years in prison.
The Dunfermline Sheriff Court confirmed to Breitbart London that Scott Walker, 39, of the James Bank Hostel, James Street had appeared Monday, charged under the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, for carrying “an article which had a blade or which was sharply pointed, namely a potato peeler”.
Sheriff Pino di Emidio ordered that Walker should return to the court on May 16th for sentencing over the crime, for which he could receive up to four years’ imprisonment.
The man was on bail for another unspecified offence at the time of his arrest.
Local newspaper the Dunfermline Press And West of Fife Advertiser reports Walker has been in Appin Crescent, Dunfermline, with the potato peeler at the time of his arrest. The paper quotes the defence solicitor Selina McKay who said her client “suffers from significant learning difficulties which have been lifelong”.
The unusual arrest comes amid heightened public interest over knife crime, as UK capital London experiences an unprecedented crime wave with 62 suspected murders in the capital so far in 2018 — leaving the city overtaking traditionally higher-crime New York for the first time in over 200 years.
While London is an ostensibly gun-free zone, a number of these killings have been shootings, while others have been committed with knives.
Focus has also fallen on Scotland’s court system, after comedian and YouTuber Mark Meechan, also known by his performer name Count Dankula, was handed an £800 fine after a two-year court battle surrounding a joke.
Meechan argued the Scottish court ruling did not take into account the context of the humour, in which he filmed his girlfriend’s pug dog making a Nazi salute in return for treats.