AN armed man held a Bridgwater pub landlord at knifepoint and told him he was going to slit his throat if he didn’t tell him who his real father was, a court heard.

Mark Farrow entered the Green Dragon pub in Friarn Street last Christmas Eve after his father, who he hadn’t seen for 20 years, joked he wasn’t his real parent.

Taunton Crown Court heard that Farrow, 36, of Longstone Avenue in the town, then wielded a knife in the busy pub at landlord Christopher Bond and demanded answers, after it was suggested he knew who his biological father was.

He was jailed for 16 months after admitting affray and possessing a bladed weapon.

Prosecuting, Nick Fridd told the court Farrow, a father himself, threatened the landlord by saying he would slit his throat.

Farrow then told the landlord “I’ll be back” and to “remember the name,” it was said.

Laurence Wilcox, defending, asked for credit for early guilty pleas and added: “He has worked since he left school and has always earned a wage for a living.

“He is an industrious and intelligent man.

“The key part is he didn’t carry the knife with the intention of using it.

“Something went on in the past with someone in the Bridgwater area.

“He had been kidnapped and beaten by this person as a youth.”

Sentencing Farrow, Judge Graham Hume Jones said: “The carrying of knives is regarded as very serious in the courts.

“Whether or not you were intent on using it, it is still dangerous.

“This case is a perfect example of just how dangerous it is.”