A teenager who was playing “an idiotic game” with himself with a knife while in Hayle Recreation Ground in the early hours was lucky not to be going to prison, he was told at Truro Magistrates’ Court.

Chairman Roger Cargeeg, said prison was a possibility in the light of recent changes in the law. Instead, Joshua Roberts, 19, of Prospect Place, Hayle, was sent to an attendance centre for 36 hours and had to pay £145 costs and surcharge.

He pleaded guilty to having the knife with him without lawful authority in a public place on October 27.

Jill Wilson, for the CPS, said police had been told about the knife because people were concerned to see him with it in the recreation ground. It was later found in his bedroom, and he told officers he had forgotten he had it with him. He said he had been playing with it and knew he should not have had it in public. He had no previous convictions.

His solicitor Mark Charnley said other people had been concerned to see him with the knife, which he had been playing with in an idiotic manner and had actually stabbed himself with it. Nobody else had been threatened.