A TEENAGER has admitted having a knife after two rough sleepers were allegedly threatened in a Bournemouth car park.

Champion boxer Mace Ruegg, of Kingswell Road, pleaded guilty to having an article with a blade or a point at the Richmond Gardens car park in the early hours of Sunday, June 17.

Prosecutors initially charged him with using the blade to threaten another. However, the charge has not been proceeded with.

Ruegg, 18, admitted the offence at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday. He offered his plea on a basis, which is contested, and will be the subject of a further hearing in November.

Judge Jonathan Fuller QC said the case involved allegations that two homeless people were threatened with a blade. The complainants would have been "pretty helpless in the face of a large knife" and their "horror" would have been "considerable", he said.

The defendant, who says he didn't draw the knife on the day of the allegation, claimed the Queensbury Boxing League national featherweight title last month.

A spokesperson from Dorset Police said: "We were called at 2.05am on June 17 to reports that three male teenagers riding bicycles had approached two people in the Richmond Gardens car park, Bournemouth.

"It is reported that one had a knife.

"Officers attended and an 18-year-old man was arrested.

"A knife was recovered."