A REDDITCH man who brandished a knife during a drunken argument in the street, threatening to kill his partner in 20 seconds and then beginning a count down, has been jailed.

Parmjit Thami had originally denied charges of assault by beating, threatening with a bladed article in a public place and making threats to kill.

But the former soldier, who Warwick Crown Court heard had been injured in active service, changed his pleas to guilty on the day of his trial last month.

And following an adjournment for a pre-sentence report, Thami, 41, of Mount Pleasant, was jailed for two years and three months.

Prosecutor Paul Mytton said the incident took place in September last year while Thami and Kelly Crowe, with whom he had been in a relationship for about five months, were living in Coventry.

But Miss Crowe, in her mid-20s, said there were problems because of Thami’s drinking, and by the morning of the incident she was planning to leave.

There was an incident between them in the house, during which Thami admits pushing her, and things then moved out into the street.

Thami followed Miss Crowe out of the house where he began brandishing a large knife he had picked up from the kitchen.

He then waved the knife towards Miss Crowe as he told a passer-by: “I’m going to kill her. I’ll cut her up.”

Thami frighteningly added: “She’s going to be murdered in 20 seconds.”

And he then began to count down from 20.

The police had been alerted and Thami was arrested at the scene.

He accepted there had been an argument in the street, but denied assaulting her or making threats, said Mr Mytton.

He pointed out that Thami had entered his guilty pleas on the basis that he and Miss Crowe had been drinking for two days, and an argument had broken out over her ex-boyfriend.

Thami, who denied punching or kicking her, although he did accept pushing her, said he had foolishly picked up a knife before following her out, and he accepted making threats ‘in the heat of the moment,’ but would not have carried them out.

Harbinder Lally, defending, conceded: “He should have pleaded guilty from the outset, and his best mitigating feature must be his guilty plea, albeit late.

“He never had any intention of doing anything. But it was an ugly and frightening thing to see, and only he knew he wasn’t going to do anything.”

Jailing Thami, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told him: “Something had happened in the course of the previous two days, and it descended into serious arguments between you. You became angry and picked up a knife.

“You say you would not have carried out those threats.

"But this was the carriage of a very large knife out into the street. There was a risk of serious injury or death.”