AN ISLE of Wight man caught with knives in his car after driving off a Red Funnel ferry told officers he used a kitchen knife to cut away Little Trees air fresheners.

Brendan Frampton, of Embankment Road, Bembridge, appeared before Isle of Wight magistrates on Tuesday, January 30.

The 48-year-old admitted four counts of possession of a knife in a public place, in East Cowes, on January 14.  

Liz Miller, prosecuting, said police received a call from a member of the public reporting that a male sat in the driver’s seat of an adjacent vehicle was smoking 'cannabis' on a Red Funnel car ferry.

She said the car was later spotted by officers on Whippingham Road, and when the driver, Frampton, was stopped, four knives were found during a search of his vehicle – namely a kitchen knife and multitools with folding blades.

Henry Farley, defending, said Frampton had no previous convictions and had been at a funeral on the mainland earlier in the day.

He said he had not been smoking on the ferry, but rather on the way to the ferry, and he smoked a roll-up cigarette, not a joint.

He said the kitchen knife was in his car because he had previously used it to cut down some Little Trees air fresheners, and the others, he didn’t know were illegal, having bought them from DIY retailers.

Frampton saw his case adjourned to March 12 for sentencing.