Portsmouth man who stabbed four people in Tokyo Joe's nightclub is jailed for 10 years

Charlie Ellins, 20, of Braintree Road, Wymering appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court today having previously admitted three counts of Section 18 wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

Police were called at 9.48pm on Saturday, November 5 to a report of an altercation at Tokyo Joe’s nightclub in Guildhall Walk. It was reported that four men had sustained stab or slash wounds.

The court heard how a verbal altercation had started in the smoking area at the back of the nightclub involving Ellins and one of the victims.

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This resulted in the first victim, a man in his 20s, sustaining a slash wound to his arm and a 19-year-old man sustaining a stab wound to his upper chest. A third victim, a man in his 20s, also sustained a stab wound to his thigh.

Emergency services were called and the three victims were given immediate medical attention by security staff at Tokyo Joe’s.

One of the victims was able to identify Ellins from a photograph on the club’s scanner system and a member of Tokyo Joe’s security staff identified Ellins outside the club in possession of a knife. The member of security staff, with assistance from members of security staff from other venues on Guildhall Walk, detained Ellins shortly before police arrived.

In the process a man in in his 30s was grazed to the side of his head with the knife.

Ellins was arrested and charged with three counts of Section 18 wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

He pleaded guilty to all offences and has now been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Tokyo Joe’s faced a licensing hearing over the incident and was allowed to stay open, with new conditions including installing metal detectors.

A 15-year-old girl, who was arrested on suspicion of common assault and using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress in connection with this incident, was released from police custody but remains under investigation.

Police Staff Investigator Nikki Ginn, who led the investigation, said: ‘This was a really concerning act of violence which saw four people, not known to Ellins, injured due to the fact that he had gone out that evening armed with a knife.

‘Fortunately, the victims did not suffer life-threatening or life-changing injuries but the consequences could have been far worse.

‘I hope that today’s sentence sends out a clear message that violence of any kind will not be tolerated and we will do everything we can to take these offenders off our streets and keep our communities safe.’

Portsmouth Chief Inspector Pete Smith said: ‘Carrying a knife will simply never be tolerated by police. Making that decision to pick up a bladed weapon creates the very real risk that you could kill or seriously injure someone.

‘This case makes that shocking reality clear. The victims in this case survived the injuries inflicted by Ellins, but the outcome could have been significantly worse.

‘We regularly make proactive efforts to target knife carriers and remove weapons from the streets. This work won’t stop, and we hope that anyone thinking of carrying recognises that there are serious consequences both for themselves and others when they make that decision to pick up a weapon.

‘I would like to praise the actions of the security and venue staff involved in the immediate response to this incident and offer my sincere thanks to them, their bravery prevented the very real possibility of further people being injured that night.

‘We continue to work alongside a number of agencies on Op Rigging, which is our response to keeping people safe within Portsmouth’s night-time economy, including Portsmouth City Council’s Violent Crime Reduction Unit and their licensing and environmental health teams, Street Pastors, South Central Ambulance Service, CCTV staff and security and staff at all of our licensed premises.’

To report knife crime people can call 101 or report online at https://www.hampshire.police.uk/

Alternatively, if you have concerns or information about violent gangs or individuals in your community, but don't want to go to the police, you can tell fearless.org what you know anonymously.

Police host a webpage aimed at supporting professionals and parents with information and resources to help educate, guide and support children and young people in keeping safe. For information go to https://www.safe4me.co.uk/