A teenager who dropped a knife while he was running away from the police has been jailed for eight weeks.

Tyrone Danso, 19, had denied possessing the offensive weapon which was found in a puddle following the chase.

Sgt Timothy Gatward, who is based at Barking Police Station, told Romford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday how Danso dropped something as he chased him from Becontree Avenue to Mott Lane in Dagenham on the afternoon of May 13, 2014.

Although he said he was unsure what the object was, another officer later found a two-inch blade.

Sgt Gatward said Danso, of Millard Terrace, Dagenham, had run away from him after looking “suspicious” hanging around next to a car.

“I asked him to stop and he didn’t,” he said. “Something fell from his person on the floor – it was a solid silver item.”

He said Danso threw his jacket on the floor while running, with Danso claiming he’d let it fall off his shoulders because he didn’t want to get caught carrying drugs.

He admitted concealing nine bags of cannabis in the jacket on the day.

“I saw the police and thought they were going to chase me so I started running,” Danso said in a statement. “I let it [the jacket] fall off – I didn’t resist. I had cannabis in my jacket.”

But Danso denied that he had a knife, accusing Sgt Gatward of lying in his statement.

Expert witness and forensic scientist Carrie Anne Smith said analysis found there was “at least” a “moderately strong” chance Danso’s DNA was on the knife.

But she admitted analysis found at least three people’s DNA on the knife and said she couldn’t perform a more in-depth analysis because of cost implications.

Danso, who is serving 32 weeks in prison on an unrelated charge, was given eight weeks in prison which will run concurrently with that sentence.

An £80 statutory surcharge was also imposed as was a year of supervision, which will commence when he is released from prison in March next year.