What happened to zero tolerance? Tough-talking judge fails to lock up knife yob

And as a senior legal figure, Judge Graham Cottle's vow to take a 'zero tolerance' approach carried serious weight.

Except, it seems, in his own courtroom. Days after his remarks were reported, the Recorder of Exeter decided against locking up a drunken yob who had threatened to stab a policeman with a carving knife.

Judge Graham Cottle: Not so tough on alcohol-related violence

Dean Parsons walked away with a suspended sentence after the judge took pity on him because he was an alcoholic.

Four young men caught up in a drunken brawl in which one was blinded in one eye also got away with just a fine.

It was a far cry from Judge Cottle's declaration last Monday that he would jail everyone brought before him on a charge of alcohol-related violence, even first offenders.

Hitting out at cheap alcohol promotions and late licencing, he said binge drinking was ruining lives and blighting town centres.

Parsons could have been the perfect candidate for the 'zero tolerance' policy.

A policeman spotted him drinking and staggering around in the middle of the road outside Torquay police station. When he was approached by the officer, he angrily pulled out a kitchen knife.

The officer, who was wearing no stab vest, had to be rescued by workmen who ran to the police station for help.

Parsons, 42, who admitted possession of a knife, faced a maximum four-year sentence.

But he left Exeter Crown Court with a six-month suspended term because he was said to be battling depression and alcohol problems.

The judge also ordered him to do 120 hours community service.

'The background to this case is alcohol abuse and depression,' he said. 'You have not been in trouble for 20 years and in this case it would not be just to send you to prison.'

Last week Judge Cottle also fined four men over a drunken brawl in which one lost the sight in an eye. The brawl involved two sets of brothers in a pub in Torbay, Devon arguing over the disappearance of a £3 pint of beer.

During the violence, Joseph McCaskie, 18, was knocked to the ground and repeatedly kicked.

His soldier brother Anthony, 24, armed himself with a pool cue and attacked Shane Smyth, 18, causing him a serious injury which left him blinded in one eye.

All four men involved, who come from Paignton, admitted affray.

Anthony McCaskie was fined £1,000 after the court heard that a jail or community sentence would end his military career.

His brother was fined £750 and Shane Smyth and Aaron Smyth, 24, were fined £600 each.

The judge said there was a difference between this incident which, although serious, took place between four people in each other's company and one which happened in the streets where the public were subjected to violent scenes.