A man in the midst of a mental health crisis was found in Didcot town centre with the handle from a BB gun, a cleaver blade-like ‘metal object’ strapped to his rucksack and a kitchen knife in the bag.

Romey Duncan, 27, could be seen on CCTV footage played to the court apparently telling two police officers who attended the scene in Orchard Street on August 28, 2020, that he was ‘Jesus’, that things were ‘upside down’ and that if they came to his home ‘they would understand’.

His behaviour gave the police enough cause for concern that, after his arrest, Duncan was detained under the Mental Health Act.

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Mitigating, Kellie Enever described the psychiatric support that her client had received since his discharge from hospital as an ‘utter lifeline’.

The man seen in the video was ‘a world away from the young man who stands in the dock today’, she added.

Duncan, of Compton Close, Didcot, pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article.

Sentencing, Recorder Ann Mulligan told Duncan that the offence of possession of a knife in a public place was so serious it usually attracted a prison sentence.

READ MORE: Results from Oxford Magistrates' Court

However, she added that his blameworthiness was ‘very much reduced’ as his mental state at the time was ‘very closely connected to the offending’.

“For those reasons I am going to take an unusual course, but an individualistic course and that is what I must do in a case such as yours,” she added.

The judge imposed a 12 month community order with up to 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.