A KNIFEMAN missed his sentencing date because prison officers attempted to bring the wrong man to court.

Daniel Barnes was due to be sentenced at Southampton Crown Court for threatening a man with a knife and a series of thefts.

But confusion arose when Barnes, who is a serving prisoner at HMP Winchester, was not present for the hearing.

Prison officers said Barnes was refusing to get on the bus to come to court.

But it was later revealed the officers were actually talking about another Daniel Barnes, based 120 miles away at HMP Cardiff , who had nothing to do with his namesake’s case.

The confusion was cleared up when Barnes’ barrister, Berenice Mulvanny, produced an email saying the Barnes in Cardiff had no knowledge of the case.

She said: “The email says that this Mr Barnes is from Worcester, he doesn’t know what the charges are and he doesn’t know where Southampton is.”

After checking the prisoner numbers of the two men, the court confirmed there had been a mix-up.

Judge Peter Henry said: “You can’t make it up.”

The Barnes they were looking for, Daniel Nicholas Barnes, 30, of Obelisk Road, Woolston, was due to be sentenced after pleading guilty to an offence of making a threat with a bladed article.

In a previous hearing Southampton Magistrates’ Court heard the incident took place in Southampton on September, 29.

In that previous hearing, he also pleaded guilty to three counts of shoplifting. Barnes is now due to be sentenced on January 23.

A Prison Service spokeswoman said: “We apologise that the sentencing of Daniel Barnes could not happen because another prisoner with the same name and date of birth was summoned in his place by mistake.”