Jealous man slashed love rival in Portsmouth's Milton Park in daylight stabbing

‘Extremely jealous’ Blu Marriott, 23, had recently been diagnosed with autism when he ‘snapped’ and armed himself with a knife and confronted a man seeing his ex-girlfriend.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard unemployed Marriott put the knife in his belt when he went to Milton Park with friends around him.

As the two men traded insults in broad daylight at around 5pm on May 11, Marriott took out the knife.

His victim lifted an arm to protect himself before Marriott waved the knife in a ‘slashing’ motion - cutting his love rival’s right thumb.

Despite later needing surgery the victim, in his 20s, went back to a nearby pub to watch football, the court heard.

Marriott, of Crofton Road, Milton, was handed a six-month jail term suspended for 12 months. He must complete a thinking skills programme with probation, 15 days’ rehabilitation activities and 80 hours’ unpaid work.

Sentencing, judge Roger Hetherington said: ‘Before going out to the park with a knife you snapped in terms of dealing with this and made the decision that you were going to arm yourself with a knife.

‘That was a very bad decision but I also accept that because of your condition of autism, which had only been fairly recently diagnosed and in respect of which you had not received any support at that stage, you were not equipped to deal with the situation.

‘You lacked the maturity and insight to respond in some more sensible way to what in fact you did.’

When the pair met in the park the victim had ‘had a great deal to drink,’ the judge said.

He added: ‘There was a stand off between the two of you. It’s not entirely clear what happened.

‘In the course of that you drew this knife out your belt, trousers, and waved it or some sort of slashing motion towards him.

‘He put up his arm to protect himself and in the course of that flailing around, your knife cut his thumb and caused the injury.’

The defendant ditched the knife in a bin but when arrested at his mother’s home immediately told police its location.

Marriott admitted having an offensive weapon and making malicious communications over messages sent on Facebook to the victim. He denied assault occasioning actual bodily harm but was convicted after a trial.

Hugh French, mitigating, said Marriott spent five weeks on remand, suffered from curvature of the spine and psoriasis.

The victim had turned up at Marriott's mother's home some time before the incident making the defendant feel threatened, the court heard.