A MAN called the police on himself as he walked down a country road late at night with a knife after hearing voices telling him to “harm himself and anyone who came near him”.

Trevor Evans called the police just after 11pm on October 16 last year, saying that he was between Gorsgoch and Talgarreg and was carrying a knife.

He could be heard making comments that he could hear voices telling him to harm himself and others, prosecutor Georgia Donohue said.

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Officers arrived just after midnight, and Evans told them “that the voices had instructed him to harm himself and anyone who came near him”, Ms Donohue told Swansea Crown Court.

He also told the police that he had an aerosol can and a lighter on him.

After some negotiations with the officers, he put the knife down and was arrested and taken to hospital for assessment. He was then remanded in to custody for his own protection.

There had initially been concerns over whether Evans was fit to enter a plea, but when it was determined he was, he admitted possessing a bladed article at the first opportunity.

The 23-year-old, of Gorsgoch, has no previous convictions.

“He has taken every opportunity the probation service have offered him in terms of his mental health,” said Hannah George, defending.

Ms George added that it had been agreed Evans would be put in touch the Dyfed Drug and Alcohol Service and the Hearing Voices group if he was released from custody.

The judge, Recorder Powell KC, said: “The reason you had the knife wasn’t because you wanted to harm anyone else, but because you were going to harm yourself.

“I see that you have done everything possible in prison to enable you to make something of yourself and deal with the issues you have got.”

He sentenced Evans to a 12-month community order, as part of which he must complete a 90-day alcohol abstinence monitoring programme and 35 days of rehabilitation activity requirement. He must also pay a £114 victim surcharge.

“I’m satisfied that if you do not drink, most of your problems will be at an end,” Recorder Powell said.

“I’m not going to even touch drink as I know it f***s with my head completely,” the defendant replied.