Tyldesley: Meat cleaver man at St George's Primary jailed

The issuing of the picture was an error on part of GMP and The Bolton News would like to clarify that the image orignally used was not that of the defendant mentioned in the article.

A man shouted ‘I’m in the SAS, these are my kids’ while waving a meat cleaver around on school grounds.

Anthony Hughes, 46, was seen waving the weapon above his head near St George’s Primary School, Tyldesley, on July 15 this year shortly before 3pm, when children.

When some of the parents tried to confront him, Hughes went into the school grounds still brandishing the meat cleaver, Bolton Crown Court heard.

Edmund Potts, prosecuting, said: “He was heard to shout ‘I’m in the SAS! These are my kids and I have an M16 behind my back!’”

Mr Potts played the court video footage taken on a mobile phone of Hughes brandishing the meat cleaver while parents shouted at him to go home, reminding him that he was in a children’s playground.  

The incident took place on Darlington Street, Tyldesley (Image: Google Maps)

But the footage also showed that despite his shouts, Hughes did not have an M16 or any other weapon aside from the meat cleaver.

Mr Hughes told the court how once Hughes arrived, the children were taken inside but many of the parents tried again to confront Hughes and at one point rammed a wheelie bin at him.

A teacher eventually demanded that Hughes, who appeared to be drunk, put the meat cleaver down and a group of parents tackled him to the ground.

They were able to hold him down until the police arrived and Hughes, of Darlington Street, Tyldesley, was arrested.

He initially answered ‘no comment’ to most of the questions put to him but pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article on school premises and to affray when brought before the court last October.

Mr Potts argued that Hughes’ crimes were made all the more serious by the use of alcohol and presence of children in the area.

Steven McNally, defending, accepted that this was ‘clearly a frightening incident’, but said that Hughes deserved credit for having pleaded guilty.

Mr McNally explained that Hughes suffered from a long history of mental illnesses and has only a ‘limited recollection’ of the events of July 15.

Hughes suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, which had been worsened by alcohol use but according to Mr McNally his mental state had now stabilised, meaning that there was a better chance he could be managed safely with a suspended sentence and support mechanisms.

But Recorder Alexandra Simmonds reminded the court just how terrifying this experience would have been for children and parents.

Addressing Hughes, she said: “Quite understandably, those who saw you holding that cleaver were clearly alarmed.”

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She added: “It’s hard to imagine a much more frightening scenario for those parents waiting to collect their children from school that afternoon.”

She accepted that the meat cleaver had not been used and dismissed the claim that he had an M16 assault rifle on him at the time.

Recorder Simmonds said: “I have seen the footage and it must have been pretty obvious that you didn’t.”

She sentenced Hughes to a total of 28 months in prison.