University student caught with lock knife at Sheffield railway station

Sheffield Crown Court heard on October 14 how Luka Petterino, aged 19, was travelling on a train and was approached by British Transport Police who had received a message at Sheffield to carry out a check.

Imran Khan, prosecuting, said: “Two officers approached him and asked him if he had anything he should not have.”

Officers found a lock knife in the Petterino’s small bag after the teenager was searched at Sheffield railway station, on Sheaf Street, and, according to Mr Kahn, the defendant told them he used it for shaving.

Petterino, of Church Road, North Leigh, Oxfordshire, who has no previous convictions, was found guilty after a Sheffield Magistrates’ Court trial of possessing a bladed article in a public place following the incident in October, 2020.

Giles Grant, defending, said Petterino is a second year Nottingham Trent University student who had foolishly denied the offence.

Recorder Jane Rowley told Petterino: “It’s very sad to find a young man like this in the dock. I am going to say straight away I am not going to be sending you to prison today.”

She added that Petterino had given excuses to the magistrates but he was convicted after a trial and he has lost his good character.

Recorder Rowley sentenced Petterino to four months of custody suspended for 12 months with 80 hours of unpaid work.

She told him: “I hope you have learned a salutary lesson from this and we never see you again.”