A MAN arrested for carrying a knuckle-duster has escaped jail after claiming it was his mum’s.

Steve Lyttle-Byron, 22, of Aragon Close, Jaywick, was arrested with the weapon and 16g of cannabis after being searched by police on June 17.

He told officers the drugs were to help his epilepsy and the silver knuckle-duster belonged to his mother.

Lyttle-Byron admitted possession of both when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court this week.

He said his father had been arrested for driving his mother’s car without insurance earlier that day.

After later realising he had left drugs in the abandoned car, he returned to the vehicle where he found the weapon in the glove compartment.

He told the court he had only picked it up to return to his mother and thought it was a plastic toy.

Ita Farelly, mitigating, said: “It is a strange set of circumstances.

“It is his mother’s weapon - she confirmed that over the phone today.

“He is aware it is an offence to have been carrying them.”

Lyttle-Byron had been searched by police after they smelt cannabis fumes whilst patrolling Park Square in Jaywick.

They found drugs with a street value of £60 in his pocket as well as the weapon.

He was sentenced to an 18-month anger management programme and told to pay £25 costs.

The knuckle-duster will be destroyed.