A MAN who was caught with a knife as he slumped outside a town centre club on Christmas Eve has been jailed for 20 weeks.

Samuel Mellor claimed he had just bought the weapon to harm himself after coming to town for the festive period.

But after hearing the 28-year-old faced a mandatory six month jail term as he had been caught with blades before a judge at Swindon Crown Court jailed him.

Mellor had bought the knife for £6 from Tesco's and then gone on a drinking session in Fleet Street when he was found with the blade around midnight.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, said "The matters are quite simple: it was Christmas Eve when Mr Mellor was in the town centre by one of the clubs.

"He was helped by one of the nightclub door staff because he had fallen over. That doorman and one of the street pastors helped him to sit down on a bench.

"Reading between the lines he was somewhat the worse for wear. He volunteered to them that he had a knife.

"He said he had bought it earlier that day to harm himself. He had showed some old scars. He had been drinking heavily since about 3.30pm."

Mellor, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article in public.

Mr Meeke said he was jailed for 21 weeks last October after he was found wandering around Leicester Square in London's West End, with a knife with a seven inch blade.

And in 2013 he was caught wandering around Brighton City centre in the middle afternoon with a three inch knife.

On both occasions he said he had bought the weapons to harm himself and not anyone else, but never actually used them.

Mike Pulsford, defending, said his client had been recalled to serve the remainder of his earlier sentence so further custody was inevitable.

Mellor, who is originally from Cirencester, is completely estranged from his family, he said, though has some support in west London.

He told the court he carried a knife to harm himself and not others but does not consider the implications of it, blaming his Asperger's for it.

"He said he arrived in Swindon on the day and started drinking heavily," Mr Pulsford said.

"I said to him 'You made no attempt to go to the house where you were intending to spend Christmas'.

"He said 'I was so depressed I didn't know what to do', but he spent £6 on a knife in Swindon. I said 'Why didn't you use it straight away', and he's got no answer for that."

Recorder Susan Jacklin QC jailed him for the mandatory six months with a 20 per cent discount for pleading guilty at the first opportunity.

She said "Mr Mellor, I have read the reports about you and I regard the case as really a sad case and it would be wonderful if you could fulfil everything you have set out in this letter, but it does mean you have got to work extremely hard and face all your demons.

"I am required to pass a sentence of six months because this is a second offence of this nature within a very short period. I am going to round it down to 20 weeks."