A man who was seen running round an Essex holiday park brandishing a kitchen knife while he was high on drugs has been jailed for eight months.

Police were called to the Orchards Holiday Village in St Osyth at around 9pm on July 25 after security staff spotted 37-year-old William Kilbourn running around with a knife in the presence of families with young children, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

The knife was wrapped in a T-shirt and although Kilbourn initially ignored requests for him to stop, he eventually came to a stop and the knife was taken away from him, said Daniel Setter, prosecuting.

The previous day Essex police had received a call from a member of the public who’d answered a knock at his front door to find Kilbourn, who claimed he was being chased by someone who was trying to kill him.

While they were waiting for the police to arrive the householder noticed Kilbourn was holding a knife which he was trying to conceal.

Concerned for his wife and children the man went upstairs and locked them in a bedroom and barricaded the door before contacting the police and telling them about the presence of the knife, said Mr Setter.

When police arrived at the premises Kilbourn had stepped out of the house and officers noticed he was under the influence of drugs.

Kilbourn, of The Common, Crostwight, North Walsham, admitted two offences of having a knife on July 24 and July 25.

Jailing him Recorder Graham Huston said Kilbourn had clearly “been out of his head” on drugs when he said he was being chased by someone who wanted to kill him on July 24 and the next day when he was running round the holiday park brandishing a knife.

“The state of your mind was such that anything could have happened,” said the judge..

The court heard that Kilbourn, who has been in custody for 72 days, had not threatened anyone with a knife on either occasion.

At the time of the offences he’d been concerned about his daughter who has a life limiting disease.