A knife-wielding South Yorkshire thug "terrified" his daughter during a dispute over a vacuum cleaner

Sheffield Crown Court heard on October 27 how Karl Steele, aged 51, of Repton Road, Doncaster, had separated from his wife when his daughter tried to deliver a vacuum cleaner to his home expecting to receive money in return.

But prosecuting barrister Ian West said Steele confronted his daughter, who had sided with her mother, while he was armed with a 12-inch knife.

Mr West said: “The arrangement was the daughter would return the vacuum cleaner and he would pay a sum of money, so on September 20, 2019, she drove her car and parked up outside her father’s property and walked to the front door without the Hoover and said, ‘Dad, I’ve got your Hoover’.”

Steele swore at his daughter demanding the vacuum cleaner, according to Mr West, and she went back to her car.

Mr West added: “At that point this defendant came out of the house and secreted a 12-inch kitchen knife down the front of his trousers and started shouting.”

Mr West said: “He then grabs his daughter by the wrist - she is in the driver’s seat - and he pulls a 12-inch knife out and started waving it about and held it like a dagger with the blade down and shouting ‘I am going to kill you. Are you scared now?’

“She described him moving the blade in a stabbing motion. She manages to kick out at him and gain some distance between them and at that point she shouted for a neighbour to call police.”

Steele pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article in public.

Bianca Brasoveanu, defending, said Steele is “incredibly remorseful” and regrets his actions.

Judge Graham Reeds QC told Steele: “Whilst not charged with threatening with a bladed article what you did falls not short of it.

“Your daughter must have been terrified to see you with such a large knife.”

Judge Reeds acknowledged Steele’s life is now different and he has a new partner and has regulated contact with his family.

He sentenced Steele to four months of custody suspended for 12 months with a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.

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