A JUDGE branded a Southampton man a social menace for brandishing a kitchen knife in front of a teenager to frighten him.

Drink was said to have ruined the life of Dean Cutler, who had knocked back six cans before rowing with the 17-year-old who had asked for cigarettes.

“He regarded the teenager as sponging off him,” Robert Pawson, defending, explained at the city crown court.

After the pair had shouted at each other, the youth pushed him away and Cutler grabbed him around the neck. He then got the knife to frighten him but, realising how stupid he had been, broke it. The pair had since shaken hands, the court heard.

Cutler, 48, of Taranto Road, Southampton, admitted affray and common assault. He received a ten-month suspended sentence coupled with 150 hours’ unpaid work and 12 months’ supervision.

Also ordering him to pay the youth £250 compensation, Judge Gary Burrell QC told him: “You are a social nuisance and you will continue to cause trouble unless you address your alcohol difficulties.”