Shropshire attacker gets his wish for a jail term
A Shropshire man who wounded a former friend with a "multi-tool" has been jailed after he said he wanted to go to prison "to sort himself out".
Victor Tunnicliffe, 26, of Watling Street North, Church Stretton, who had admitted unlawfully wounding Tony Butcher, appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court for sentencing.
Judge Recorder Nicholas Cartwright heard that Mr Butcher had been left with cuts to his jaw and head as a result of the incident, which took place at Church Stretton Railway Station.
Mr Robert Edwards, prosecuting, said Tunnicliffe and Mr Butcher, who had previously been friends, were involved in an altercation at the Happy Shopper in Church Stretton.
Mr Butcher left the shop and went to the station, with Tunnicliffe arriving shortly after. Tunnicliffe approached Mr Butcher and the pair started fighting.
Mr Edwards said: "A struggle ensues with Mr Butcher on the floor and while on the floor feels blows to the left side of his head."
Police were called and after arresting Tunnicliffe he told them he had hit Mr Butcher with a "multi-tool" and showed them where he had thrown it into a hedge.
Mr Brendan Reedy, for Tunnicliffe, said: "He has said to me 'I think I need a period of time inside to get myself sorted and detox'."
Sentencing, Mr Recorder Nicholas Cartwright, told Tunnicliffe he could, and should, have avoided the fight.
He said: "There was an altercation at the Happy Shopper. It does not really matter who started that because the matter should have ended there. But the two of you came across each other at the railway station not long after and there was a fight there.
"It seems to me that it was possible for one or both of you to avoid the fight and in that sense because you both entered into a fight, self defence does not arise.
"You ended up in a position where you thought you were losing the fight, reached into your pocket, took out the multi-tool and struck out causing a wound to the jaw of Mr Butcher and another to his head."
He accepted Tunnicliffe's actions were "simply an instinctive reaction", but said they had been aggravated by a previous conviction for possessing a bladed article.
He added that Tunnicliffe had failed to comply with a previous community and had expressed a wish for a spell in prison, so jailed him for six months.
