AMAN caught with a carving knife in his backpack at a railway station, claimed he was on his way to his mum’s barbecue.

Lee Fitzpatrick, 27, of Mayflower Road, Chafford Hundred, denied unlawful possession of a knife in a public place when he appeared at Basildon Magistrates’ Court.

Police were called to Chafford Hundred railway station on Saturday, June 21, after passengers reported seeing a drunken man in the station with a knife. Officers allegedly arrived and found Fitzpatrick asleep on a bench, with a 10-ins kitchen knife poking out of his bag. Officers woke him up, and arrested him.

Fitzpatrick told the court he had been on his way to a barbecue at his mother’s house and she had asked him to bring the blade to chop up food.

He was bailed to appear before Basildon Crown Court, in early October.