A convicted killer caught with a knife down his sock after being arrested in a town centre has been jailed for just over three years.

Martin Lally claimed he had the weapon in the early hours of September 21 last year because he was going night fishing.

But the 38-year-old father, of Upper Stone Street, Maidstone, admitted having a bladed article in a public place.

Lally’s lawyer had urged a judge to release him from custody so that mental health treatment could be continued.

But passing a sentence of three years and three months, Judge Martin Joy said: “I have photographs of the knife. It is a vicious-looking weapon.

“The carrying of knives is an extremely serious offence. He has killed somebody with a knife.”

Lally was jailed for nine years by a judge at Chelmsford Crown Court in June 2000 for manslaughter.

He was given an extended sentence in 2006 for robbery, again involving a knife. He was in breach of a nine-month suspended sentence for assault causing actual bodily harm.

Maidstone Crown Court heard officers had spoken to Lally in the town centre about a separate incident.

“It sounds odd, but it was a fight involving fishing rods,” said prosecutor Jessica Clarke.

“He then said to officers: ‘I will tell you where the weapon is. It is in my sock.”

He also had a small amount of cannabis, which was dealt with by a fine.

Stephanie Wookey, defending, said Lally had a personality disorder and other mental problems mainly due to alcohol and cannabis use.

He had a history of depression and attempted suicide. He was smoking the drug by the age of 11 and later tried heroin and crack cocaine.

A community order with a mental health requirement was imposed in September last year.

Telling the court Lally would lose his flat if kept in prison, Miss Wookey added: “His personal circumstances are compelling. He is desperate to address his problems.”

“Your previous record is alarming. The combination of knives and cannabis is a very troubling combination indeed" - Judge Martin Joy

Asked how the knife came to be in Lally’s sock, Miss Wookey said he had put it in his underpants and it had slipped.

Lally was sentenced to two-and-a-half years for possessing the knife and the nine-month suspended sentence was activated.

“I have to consider very carefully what your intention was,” said Judge Joy.

“Your previous record is alarming. The combination of knives and cannabis is a very troubling combination indeed.

“The court is extremely troubled by your continuing offending. Quite plainly this is very sinister intention. The courts must take steps to ensure this is stamped out.

“Those who carry knives in those circumstances can only expect severe punishment.”