A YOUNG policewoman has told a jury of her terror as she was confronted by a knife-wielding man as she chased him in the town centre.

Carl Thomas brandished a large kitchen knife at the officer after he slipped and fell as she tried to catch him.

WPC Kate Platten said she grabbed at the 23-year-old after he slipped in Bridge Street but backed off when he produced the knife.

The officer said she and a second female constable had gone to the Abalone guest house, in Sheppard Street, shortly before 11pm on Friday, July 16 with a man who was an alleged victim of crime.

She said on arrival Thomas, of the Circle, Pinehurst, had been pointed out by the man in the police car so she shouted at him to wait, but he ran off.

"I got out of the car and started to run after him," she told the jury at Swindon Crown Court.

"As I was running down Bridge Street following the male he fell over.

"I was able to catch up with him, I probably wouldn't have otherwise. I went to grab him to detain him and as I did I saw a knife in his hand. He then dropped the knife and continued to run.

"He had the knife in his hand. It appeared to be pointing in my direction to scare me away and stop me detaining him.

"At one point it came relatively close to me. It all happened in a fast amount of time. It was quite scary."

Paul Orton, defending, put to the officer that she had never caught up with his client.

But she insisted she got near enough to nearly touch him.

He also suggested the knife had fallen from Thomas's trousers when he stumbled but she insisted he had brandished it in his hand.

Mr Orton said "As far as a knife being pulled on you and you getting anywhere near him, you are not telling the truth."

Thomas, admits having a bladed article and denies a charge of assault with intent to resist arrest.

The case continues.

Jamie Hill