Topless neighbour had 12 inch knife in pants

Ray Higgins, 28, who hit the headlines when he was jailed for stabbing two brothers in Leyland in 2007, had the blade tucked into his trousers as he strolled down a Preston street.


Higgins, of Powis Road, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, admitted having a blade in public on what should have been the first day of his trial at Preston Crown Court.


It followed an incident on Cliff Street in Preston on August 18.


Prosecuting, Nicholas Flanagan said: “A man, woman and their 14-year-old daughter heard a commotion on Cliff Street. Most of the houses are unoccupied but one house had been taken by the local authority, and is described as a half way house.


“The family had heard shouting, screaming and banging in the early hours.


“The man went out to work but was concerned and intended to go and speak to the occupants.


“When the man came home he was alerted by his wife that the defendant had been seen on the street.”


The couple hopped into their car to follow Higgins, who was wearing no top and a pair of jogging bottoms and caught up to him.


He added: “At this point the defendant did stop and knelt down as if to speak but the man and his wife had seen sticking out of his trousers a serrated breadknife. It was clearly visible with no attempt to disguise it.


“They heard him shout something like: “I’m going to kill him.”


“The man was distressed and asked her husband to pull away.”


Higgins also admitted drink driving after a collision with a HGV on the M6 at Samlesbury.


At the time of both sets of offences Higgins was subject to a suspended sentence for causing actual bodily harm to a woman he had been fighting with in April.


He will be sentenced on March 31.

In 2007 Higgins was jailed for five years after he used a 12 inch knife to stab a man three times in the back, puncturing his lung, in retaliation over part of his nose being bitten off.