Darren Day surprised to hear 'keyring' was offensive weapon

ENTERTAINER Darren Day today told a court of his surprise when police told him his keyring was an offensive weapon.

The 41-year-old said the kubotan - a 5in long metal stick – he has carried for the past 14 years was given to him as a present to stop him constantly losing his keys.

The actor and singer said it never crossed his mind he could have been carrying an offensive weapon, although he agreed that, with hindsight, he may have been "naive".

The stage star was giving evidence in his own defence on the second day of his trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court over claims he was in possession of an offensive weapon.

Day, of Cudworth, South Yorkshire, is accused of having a kubotan in a public place in Edinburgh "without lawful authority or reasonable excuse" in December last year.

He was initially charged with having a weapon when he was stopped by police in the Scottish capital on 18 December last year. He was in the city starring in the hit Queen musical We Will Rock You.

Day denies the charge, claiming the item was simply a key fob, but prosecutors refused to accept his not guilty plea.

He told the court he was given the kubotan in 1996 by a friend who suggested he attach his keys to it.

Day told the court he was "famous" for losing his keys and used the item "purely as a keyring".

"I kept my keys on it for 14 years," he told the court.

"It had my car keys and a key for the apartment I was renting in Edinburgh when I was doing the musical."

He said he knew the device was called a kubotan but believed it to be a small, representative version of a large baton used in martial arts.

He added that he had never been trained in using a kubotan: "It was just my big keyring."

Asked if he ever thought he was carrying something which might be an offensive weapon, he replied: "Absolutely not."

"It honestly never crossed my mind that I was carrying anything other than a keyring," he said.

He added: "I understand that perhaps retrospectively that was naive of me."

Day then spoke of his surprise after being questioned about the item by police.

He told the court today: "I think I said, 'That's not an offensive weapon' because I was surprised.

"I was told by the police officer that it was an offensive weapon. My reply that it was not an offensive weapon was because I was surprised by what I was being told."