Darren Day accused of possessing a lethal weapon

(GETTY)

Darren Day, the former snooker player turned singer and actor, appeared in court yesterday charged with possessing a kubotan – an eight-inch martial arts weapon that a police officer told the court could kill a man.

Day, 41, is accused of carrying the weapon in Edinburgh in December last year. He had been stopped for drink-driving, a charge he has admitted. The singer, who was starring in the Queen musical We Will Rock You at the time, was also accused of driving without due care and attention and crashing his Mercedes into a lamp-post. His "not guilty" pleas to these charges were accepted.

The kubotan was designed in the early 1970s and was first used for "close-impact control" by Los Angeles police. During the 1980s, it was marketed as a self-defence tool.