A man has been jailed from Chester city centre after threatening to burn down a cafe and stab several customers inside.

Terrance Maughan has been sentenced to 39 months in prison after appearing at Chester Crown Court on Wednesday 27 August.

The 40-year-old pleaded guilty to threatening a person with an offensive weapon, affray and criminal damage. He also pleaded guilty to breaching a serious violence reduction order and his prison license.

Maughan has also been handed a five-year criminal behaviour order which bans him from entering Chester city centre and Ellesmere Port town centre.

On Tuesday 25 February, a woman asked Maughan to leave a café on Whitby Road, Ellesmere Port, due to him being intoxicated.

In response to being asked to leave, he hit the woman on the hand and threatened to punch her and burn her alive.

Another man came to her aid and attempted to assist her in removing Maughan from the café, to which Maughan responded by punching him in the chest.

He also threatened to burn him alive on two separate occasions, escalating his threats by saying he would go on to burn the café itself down.

Despite Maughan being successfully removed from the building, he returned a short time later. This time, he was brandishing a screwdriver and attempted to stab the man who had earlier removed him.

The man defended himself and Maughan left the scene after using the screwdriver to cause several hundred pounds worth of damage to a nearby car.

He would be located on CCTV a short time later, with officers finding the same screwdriver on his person upon his arrest.

Following his arrest, it had been uncovered that Maughan had been released from prison just five days earlier.

He was therefore subject to both a prison license and serious violence reduction order, with the latter being breached by failing to provide police with his personal details following his release.

In his interview with officers, Maughan denied any wrongdoing and claimed he had been attacked in the café by the customers.

The resident of Harlech Court, Ellesmere Port, also claimed he used the screwdriver to open tins and bottles, as he struggled to do so otherwise.

Claims were also made that the damage he had caused to the car was the result of someone reversing into it.

During this interview, Maughan became angry and punched a nearby bin, damaging it. He would be further arrested for criminal damage, to which he responded that he did not care that he had damaged it.

Following his sentencing, Detective Constable Richard Willding-Jones, said: "It took only five days for Terrance Maughan to return to a life of crime after being released from prison on 20 February 2025.

"During that time, he not only breached two crime prevention orders imposed against him, but he also attempted to seriously injure two people with a screwdriver and caused substantial damage to a member of the public's vehicle and even a bin during his interview with officers.

"For that reason, I am glad to see the sentence handed to Maughan today.

"I do hope that it provides his victims with a sense of reassurance and comfort that their attacker will be behind bars for the foreseeable future – hopefully contemplating his actions.

"Alongside being handed a three-year-plus custodial sentence, we have also taken active steps to deter any future reoffending when he completes his sentence and leaves prison through the obtaining of a criminal behaviour order, that bans him from both the centres of Ellesmere Port and Chester until the year 2030."