A CRIMINAL caught in the street with a knife tried to claim he had dropped it during a house move.

But a judge told Adam Lee – convicted twice before for having a blade in public as well as two firearms offences: "I find it hard to accept given your history."

Lee was spotted by CCTV operators in Skinner Street, Stockton, with the kitchen knife tucked into the back of his waistband.

Workers watched as he argued with his girlfriend, took out the implement and threw it in the air in her direction on March 5.

Two days earlier, the 36-year-old twice broke into the Clock Tower pub on the town's High Street after closing time.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday that cameras caught him with his face covered as he stole alcohol, before returning at 3.30am and taking a television from a wall and more booze while piling DJ equipment against a wall for a planned third trip.

Stephen Constantine, mitigating, said Lee – who has more than 100 offences on his record – has struggled for years with a drug addiction.

He told Judge Howard Crowson that he and his partner were carrying their belongings from one place to another and he dropped the knife.

"There is a realisation by him there has to come a time when he stops behaving in this way," he added. "He would finally like to make something of his life."

Judge Crowson told Lee: "The persistence of the burglary was over two visits. The knife offence is much more concerning. It had a 20cm blade. Recent tragic events demand courts treat cases with these sorts of dangerous weapons seriously."

Lee, of Hartington Road, Stockton, admitted burglary and having a bladed article, and was jailed for 16 months.