A man who was caught with a knife in High Wycombe has avoided going to jail.

Jonathon Preston, 38, has been given a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years after he was caught carrying a Stanley knife in the town without a good reason.

Preston, of Chandler’s Ford in Eastleigh, was in Lucas Road on December 27, 2019, when he was caught carrying the blade.

At Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on December 13, Preston denied a charge of possession of a bladed article, but was found guilty by the magistrates.

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In the UK, it is illegal to carry a knife in public with a blade more than three inches long without a reasonable excuse.

After finding him guilty, the magistrates gave Preston a six-month suspended sentence and also ordered him to pay £522 costs.

The justices decided to spare the offender a custodial sentence on the basis that he had not committed any other crimes since this offence in December 2019, deeming him an individual with a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.

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