A SCHOOLBOY caught with a kitchen knife hidden in his waistband on a Greenock street has been cleared - after claiming he found the 20cm blade in a bush. 

Police stopped and searched the teenager late at night and recovered the sharp item, a trial at the sheriff court heard.

The boy - who was aged 15 at the time of the incident - denied a charge of having the knife without reasonable excuse and stated that he'd come across the blade whilst walking home.

He told the court: "I saw the shine of a metal thing in a bush and I walked over to it.

"The bush was just before the fire station on Rue End Street.

"I saw a shiny metal object. I thought it was a can or something but in fact it was a blade.

"It just interested me, just to see what it was."

The teen, who denied that the blade belonged to him, said that once he realised what he had picked up he 'panicked'.

He said: "I picked it up and put it in my waistband to bin it."

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During a summary trial before Sheriff Morag Fraser, police constables who arrested the youth testified that they had cause to stop the youth at around 10.45pm on February 15.

The two male officers detained and searched him and recovered a large, black-handled kitchen knife 30cm in length; the blade alone was 20cm long.

He was arrested, cautioned and charged and made no reply in the presence of his father.

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The youth told the court: "I hid it so that if anyone drove past it wouldn't look like it was on me.

"My intention was to bin it.

"I probably shouldn't have picked it up. I could've walked away."

After being questioned on why he failed to hand in the knife to the nearby fire station or inform officers before they searched him, the teenager said: "I froze and didn't know what to say."

Procurator fiscal depute Ashley Pollock insisted that the teen had several opportunities to bring the knife to the attention of the authorities or dispose of it, and argued that his explanation of events 'doesn't make sense'.

Defence solicitor Paul Keenan said: "He was scared of getting into trouble, which is why he didn't report it.

"He was approached by two fully grown men [police officers], he viewed that as a threat."

Sheriff Fraser said that 'on the balance of probabilities' she was 'prepared to find that a defence of reasonable excuse has been established' and found the teenager not guilty.