A FAMILY man who stabbed three people with a multi-tool knife after leaving a Winchester nightclub has been spared jail because he was acting in self defence, a judge has ruled. 

Christopher Mauleverer, 41, was cleared of three counts of wounding after using the "sentimental" gift from his wife to warn off the attackers during an incident on July 25 last year. 

He did, however, plead guilty to possessing a bladed article and was slapped with 80 hours of unpaid work. 

Sentencing the husband and father at Winchester Crown Court on Friday, September 23, Judge Adam Feest KC, said: "I've seen the video of the circumstances and the Crown rightly accepted you were the victim.

"Nevertheless you were carrying a prohibited article and admitted that to police."

The court was shown CCTV footage of Mauleverer, of Quarry Road, St Giles Hill, dancing on his own in Vodka nightclub in Upper Brook Street shortly before 3am. 

At points in the video, Martyn Booth, prosecuting, said he could be seen dancing with a female member of the trio, although nothing "inappropriate or untoward" took place.

A friend of the woman's boyfriend then intervened and pulled her away. 

A short while afterwards further footage captured Mauleverer walking through Silver Hill past Primark towards the taxi rank chatting with the same woman. 

They were closely followed by her boyfriend and his friend who approached them in a "purposeful way".

A third CCTV camera outside the Brooks Centre captured both men tussling with Mauleverer as he was trying to get away, throwing him to the ground. 

During that melee, the court was told he had used the locking knife on his multi tool to stab both of the attackers, wounding the female in the process, before running away towards the High Street where he was stopped by a security guard. 

The court heard Mauleverer was calm with the guard and showed remorse and concern for the injured parties. When police attended the "chaotic scene" he admitted wounding them but insisted it was in self defence. He was arrested and interviewed under police caution. 

Mr Booth said the three people, who weren't named in court, suffered puncture wounds and "broadly superficial" injuries. One of the men sustained nerve damage in his hand which Mr Booth described as "bad luck". 

An image of the blood-stained Leatherman multi-tool was shown to the court. Mauleverer said he carried it regularly and had done for some time. He used it for tasks such as fixing the chicken coop, cutting fruit, taking apart computers at work and general DIY, adding that it had sentimental value as it was engraved with his daughter's initials. 

Mitigating, Mr Harris said: "He has been very stupid, certainly that's the way he feels. But to say that would be doing him a bit of a disservice. He made a mistake which is highly understandable and one that thousands of others will be making every day by carrying a multi-tool. We know the tool locks and that raises eyebrows for the court, but he isn't privy to the legality and had no reason to raise an eyebrow himself."

He added: "He (Mauleverer) and his wife both said they would have preferred he was badly beaten than sitting in the dock today."

The judge acknowledged it was an "unusual" set of circumstances and recognised Mauleverer hadn't intentionally armed himself in case of trouble. 

However, he said multi tools do have capability to cause "serious injury" and that the court had seen them involved in more serious cases. 

Alongside the community order for unpaid work, he imposed costs of £300 and a statutory surcharge which is to be paid within 28 days. 

Mauleverer's guilty plea, positive character references and clean record of offending were taken into account while imposing the sentence.

Concluding the case, Judge Feest said: "I've no doubt these courts won't see you again."