A CHESHAM defendant has been handed a suspended prison sentence for stabbing a man four times.

Simon Campbell was handed a 15 month jail term, suspended for two years, placed under the supervision of the Probation Service and ordered to undergo mental health treatment after being convicted of unlawful wounding by a jury in November.

Mr Campbell, who was cleared of a seperate charge of wounding with intent, stabbed Jervis O’Gorman in the stomach, chest, arm and head on June 12.

The court heard Mr O’Gorman required hospital treatment for the wounds, of which two were described as “serious, if not life threatening”.

In mitigation, Mr Campbell’s defence told the court how Mr O’Gorman, who had been drinking, sent threatening text messages to Campbell, including one that said he was on his way to his Cresswell Road home.

Campbell’s lawyer told the court that instead of calling police, he picked up a knife for his own protection and went to flee his home, where he was confronted by Mr O’Gorman, who he stabbed four times.

In sentencing Campbell at Amersham Crown Court on Tuesday, Miss Recorder Montgomery said: “However you go about justifying it to yourself or to others, the law does not permit you to act as you did.

“During the trial, I listened to both sides of the story and it was obvious to me that neither of you were telling the court the whole truth.

“Neither did the jury or I accept that your response to his behaviour was necessary or appropriate to the threat you faced.”