A MAN who pulled a knife on a bystander outside a city centre pub during a row has been warned to expect a jail sentence.

At Oxford Crown Court today Judge Zoe Smith adjourned the sentencing of Grant Fisher, of Glyme Drive, Berinsfield, Wallingford, but warned that anybody carrying knives in public would be jailed.

Ahead of the hearing yesterday the 26-year old had already admitted at Oxford Magistrates’ Court one count of threatening another with an offensive weapon.

Outlining the case at the crown court prosecutor Jonathan Stone said that Fisher had been out with friends at The Oxford Retreat, Hythe Bridge Street on December 8 last year.

An argument broke out outside between Fisher’s group and another group which escalated into Fisher pulling out a ‘large’ kitchen knife and threatening a bystander with it.

Police were out and passing nearby, the court heard, and when the victim flagged them down they swarmed on the scene.

Fisher threw the knife into the river and was soon after arrested before he was later charged.

His defence barrister Steven Molloy described Fisher as a ‘gentle giant’ and said that because of his height - at more than six feet, people would often get into fights with him.

He added that Fisher had taken the knife from his kitchen that day.

Judge Zoe Smith said at the hearing: “In this day and age the possession of a knife, the production of a knife, is very, very serious.

“I don’t want Mr Fisher to be under a mis-illusion. He must understand that an immediate custodial sentence is very much appropriate for the carrying of a knife.”

The case was adjourned while a pre-sentence report is prepared and Fisher was released on unconditional bail in the meantime.

He will be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on February 21.