A career criminal who lives in High Wycombe has been spared jail after he stabbed a man with a 12-inch kitchen knife twice in broad daylight.

Wayne Battle has convictions for 87 previous offences and was handed a suspended sentence and walked free from Basildon Crown Court.

His long history includes 13 offenses against people and Battle's latest brush with the law was his "third strike" for having a weapon in public - triggering a minimum six-month prison sentence.

But Judge Siew Loke found there were “exceptional circumstances” and waived the mandatory minimum after being told Battle, 41, had since moved to Wycombe to care for an elderly aunt.

Prosecutor Siobhan Livingston told Basildon Crown Court the latest stabbing occurred just after 5pm on June 16, 2024, when Southend Council CCTV officers called Essex Police to report “a male in the street with a large knife”.

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Battle brandished a 12-inch kitchen knife in York Road, Southend, stabbing one man twice and waving it at others.

He was seen in “a verbal altercation” with a man and woman, who walked away from him and sat at a bus stop.

But Battle then approached them, irate, and “seemed to be intent on getting at” the man, despite the woman’s attempts to block him.

“The defendant approaches the complainant and pulls a large kitchen knife, approximately 12 inches, from underneath his trousers waist band,” said Mrs Livingston.

CCTV captured Battle “raising it and striking him with force in the top of his left arm”.

The weapon fell to the floor, but Battle picked it back up and “continued to threaten” the victim.

He raised the knife above his head and plunged it down, stopping in front of the victim, and jabbed it into the man’s left arm a second time.

He was left with one deep puncture wound and one long laceration.

Wayne Battle (Image: Newsquest / SWNS)

After that, CCTV captured him “waving the knife in the complainant’s face whilst screaming at him, before eventually walking away” – brandishing the knife at innocent bystanders as he did so.

Battle pleaded guilty to one count of Section 20 wounding and one of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place.

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He committed the offences while already subject to a suspended sentence imposed the year before, although it was not stated what for.

Defence barrister James Conroy said there had been “considerable delays” in the case, with Battle originally listed for sentence in summer 2025.

In the intervening period, he said, his client had removed himself from Southend, where he was surrounded by negative influence, and become the live-in carer for a vulnerable relative.

“This was a turning point for Mr Battle,” said Mr Conroy. “There is no mistake that Mr Battle is capable of violence. But we can also see from that last 18 months that he is capable of kindness. He got out.”

Judge Loke sentenced him to 20 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, with a requirement to complete 40 days of rehabilitation.