A “petrified” woman called the police after seeing a mentally ill man with a large kitchen knife as she walked to a park with her children, a court has heard.

The woman later told police that her six-year-old son asked her what 30-year-old Shaun Booker was doing and said: “Who was he going to kill mum?”, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Joanne Eley, prosecuting, said the woman and her children had been walking along Gernon Road, Ardleigh, towards an alleyway when they saw Booker, who appeared angry and was stamping his feet, walking towards them.

As he passed them the woman noticed he was holding a large carving knife which he tried to hide behind his back.

When police officers armed with tasers went to Booker’s home he slammed his bedroom door in their faces, said Miss Eley.

The officers kicked in the door and handcuffed Booker who they described as “dishevelled.”

As the officers checked that Booker didn’t have a weapon he kicked out causing one of the officers to fall backwards.

Booker later told police that he had gone out for a walk with two knives but there had been no reason for taking them.

He recalled seeing the woman and her son and accepted they could have been scared when they saw the knives.

Booker, who has no previous convictions, said he hadn’t been taking his mental health medication.

Booker of Gernon Road, Ardleigh, admitted threatening behaviour and having a knife in a public place in February last year. He was made the subject of a hospital order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act.

Sentencing Booker, who has a long history of mental illness, Judge Emma Peters said: “You went into the street in Ardleigh with a very big knife and behaved in a way that caused a mother and her six-year-old son to be very frightened.”

She said Booker was on the autistic spectrum and suffered from drug induced psychosis and it was appropriate that he should be detained in hospital for medical treatment.

She said Booker was currently being treated at Edward House in Chelmsford and he would remain there until doctors decided he was well enough to be released.

He would then have to comply with the terms of his release.