A man who was given a substantial payout after suffering a severe brain injury when he was hit by a bus as a child has narrowly escaped prison after walking into Huddersfield Royal Infirmary armed with a knife.

Paul Tate, now aged 25, who was left vulnerable and ‘childlike’ after the accident which almost killed him, realised he shouldn’t have taken the four inch knife - and rang the police himself.

Tate says two officers turned up at the hospital and told him they wouldn’t arrest him but that he should hand himself in at a police station, which he did.

He was charged with possessing a knife in a public place, which he admitted before Kirklees magistrates.

Tate, now living in Industrial Terrace, Halifax, suffered the injury when he ran into the road after playing with other children as dustmen were collecting the rubbish near his then home in Rastrick, when he was 11.

He stopped breathing twice, was left in a coma, and then needed specialist support to teach him how to walk and talk again.

He has been left extremely vulnerable, and people often turn up at his house for parties, knowing he has received the substantial payout.

Magistrates heard that he went to the hospital’s A&E department as he felt unwell, and says he took the knife to protect him from drug dealers.

Kirklees Magistrates Court, Huddersfield.
Kirklees Magistrates Court, Huddersfield.

Vanessa Jones, prosecuting, said: “He realised he was in a public place and shouldn’t have had it with him. He realised it was wrong and that’s why he rang the police. Officers came and he gave them the knife.”

She said Tate has 16 convictions, dating back to 2010, mainly for being drunk and disorderly.

Paul Manning, mitigating, said: “He suffered a terrible brain injury when he was 11 years old and it’s taken 14 years to resolve the lawsuit surrounding that to the point where he is in receipt of a large sum of money.

“He has a financial guardian, because of his difficulties. He is not your common or garden criminal. He falls foul of the law often at the behest of others.

“There have been parties at his house and he is vulnerable. More often than not, what happens at his house is beyond his control”.

Tate was given a 12 month community order, fined £100 and ordered to pay the prosecution and court costs, plus a £60 surcharge.

After the hearing, his family said they were relieved he had not been jailed, and that Tate, who was fearful of going to prison, had learned a hard lesson.

They said after the accident, they had feared for his life. He spent two months in Leeds General Infirmary, where doctors were amazed at his progress.