A dad should not have "taken the law into his own hands" when he used bleach "as a weapon" to spray a man who allegedly attacked him, a court heard. Julian Musgrove lashed out with the bleach after he got involved in a dispute between neighbours on February 17 last year.
Musgrove was punched by Matthew Bolton in Victoria Street, Mansfield, but prosecutors later accepted Mr Bolton and his partner, Kelly Bolto, acted in lawful self-defence, and subsequently offered no evidence against them, Nottingham Crown Court heard. But at the time, Musgrove, who was trying to get to his pregnant partner and children, retaliated - returning to his home address after the punch.
He picked up a bottle of bleach and sprayed Mr Bolton, causing minor injury. David Eager, prosecuting on Monday (January 16), said a weapon was used, referring to the bleach, but little or no physical injury was caused.
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Musgrove, who was suffering from a split personality at the time, had been concerned for his pregnant partner's safety - and went to extract her from a bad situation. He accepts now he should have called police, rather than take matters into his own hands.
Judge William Harbage, King's Counsel, told 41-year-old Musgrove, whose address is currently HMP Stocken, near Oakham in Rutland, he is serving a five-year sentence for robbery. The judge said: "I have to sentence you for an offence of affray that was committed in February 2021. There is a written basis of plea, uploaded to the digital case system, and I sentence you in accordance with that".
He said it was clear he became involved in a confrontation with the couple, who were stopping him from reaching his girlfriend who was pregnant in a house nearby. "It is accepted you acted to defend your son and daughter, who were also caught up in that confrontation," he added.
After Musgrove was assaulted by Mr Bolton, "the Crown accept that matters took a turn for the worse", added the judge. "You returned home upset and angry, picked up a bottle of bleach and returned to the confrontation.
"As Mr Bolton tried to disarm you of the bottle of bleach, you both ended up being sprayed during the physical confrontation. Fortunately, minimal injury was caused to Mr Bolton."
The judge imposed a three-month prison sentence concurrently to his five-year robbery term, a sentence subject to a release date of November 28. But the judge described the incident as "unnecessary, unneccessarily aggressive by taking the law into your own hands; retrieving bleach to use as a weapon".
Musgrove repeatedly thanked the judge over video link before he was cut off.
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