A cemetery worker was left shaken after being confronted by a knifeman in Holt.

The town council employee was carrying out maintenance at the Cley Road burial ground when he was approached by a man armed with a blade.

Details of the dramatic encounter emerged during the town council's monthly briefing with police at its meeting in the community centre on Monday night.

Members heard the knifeman may be known to officers. However, it was unclear whether he remains on the loose.

Addressing the public meeting, Holt mayor Duncan Baker said: 'A gentleman with a large knife approached one of our maintenance men.' And he added: 'He was quite shaken by it.'

The meeting went on to praise the tidiness of the cemetery following work over the winter.

It's not the first time the cemetery in Holt has hit the headlines recently.

In October, vandals were suspected of knocking over 50 gravestones and a police appeal was issued for help to find those guilty of 'an act of disgraceful criminal damage.'

However, it quickly emerged that the affected headstones had been 'very respectfully laid down' by Holt Town Council, which owns the cemetery, because of serious safety fears over their condition.

Town clerk Elaine Oliver, speaking at the time, said it had been noticed that a couple of headstones had been in a 'very bad state', triggering an emergency inspection.

Meanwhile, police revealed they had been alerted to a series of raids on holiday homes in the area in the past four weeks.

However, because many of the properties were empty at the time, members were told it was unclear when they had been targeted.

Sergeant Graham Gower-Smith told councillors he feared the thieves had long since come and gone.