Man brandished knife at party-goers after being accused of taking too much stuffing from buffet

A man from Llandderfel in Gwynedd, Wales, brandished a knife at terrified party-goers in a row over buffet food. Craig Peter Stewart of Hen Ysgol threatened a man who he claimed insulted him while he was helping himself to food from a buffet table laid out for a birthday party at Llandderfel Hall, near Bala in the early hours of Sunday, 24 August.

Stewart, 31, pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing a knife when he appeared before Dolgellau magistrates last Thursday. The court heard that police were called to the hall at around 2.10am. Stewart said he had been “insulted” at the party by a man who made reference to the amount of stuffing he was taking from the buffet.
After leaving the party, the court heard, an intoxicated Stewart ret urned wearing different clothes with a hood, and carrying a large bread knife, a kitchen knife and a paring knife from his home, which was just 200 yards from the hall. When officers arrived on the scene they found Stewart being restrained by two fellow party-goers.
In defense, Stewart claimed he returned to the party with the knives as he “wanted more food” and there was “no cutlery on the buffet table”. And he said he had changed his clothes because he was feeling cold. But the prosecution labelled his version of events as “fantastical”. Stewart will be sentenced at Caernarfon Crown Court on Thursday, 6 November, after Dolgellau magistrates declined jurisdiction. He was released on conditional bail until the hearing.