A MAN who calls himself Jammy Dodger has lived up to his name after being freed from jail just 48 hours into a six month sentence.

Ashley Walton was jailed on Wednesday for carrying a knife which was concealed inside a fake credit card but returned to court on Friday when the Judge was persuaded to suspend the sentence.

Walton, who is also known as Jammy Dodger, was freed from Exeter Crown Court after a Judge decided that his previous sentence of immediate jail was potentially unfair.

He changed the sentence after defence solicitor told him that Walton had pleaded guilty because he had led to expect a suspended sentence by another judge at a previous hearing a year earlier.

Walton was caught with the knife outside a hotel in Exeter in 2020. He claimed he got it as a free gift in a novelty wallet which he bought online from the Chinese internet site Ali Baba.

He has previously appeared at the same court under the name of Jammy Dodger when charges of possessing a stun gun and pepper spray were dropped because a co-defendant admitted them.

Walton, also known as Jammy Dodger, aged 44, of Gershon Road, Paignton, admitted possessing a blade in a public place and was jailed for six months, suspended for two years, by Recorder Mr Richard Stead.

He said the original sentence may be unfair because he had entered his plea under the mistaken belief that his sentence would be suspended.

At the previous hearing on Wednesday he told him: 'The fact that this item may have come as a surprise gift does not assist you in any respect. It is not suggested you used the knife on this or any other occasion. You were carrying a bladed article and it was unlawful.'

Mr Thomas Faulkner, prosecuting, said police were called to the Travel Lodge on Sidmouth Road, Exeter, on August 14, 2020, because staff were worried that Walton was sharing a room with an under aged girl.

He was seen smoking outside and later found with the knife in his wallet. The girl turned out to be over 16 and no further action was taken about that.

Mr Stephen Nunn, defending, said the case has taken almost three years to come to sort out because Walton believed the knife was legal as it had arrived as a free gift inside the novelty wallet which he bought online.

He said the wallet is designed with a trigger which leads the cars inside it to fan out like a deck of cards. The police had taken no further action over the allegation that led to his arrest.

The knife was similar to those which were sold as paint scrapers for three for £5 by B&Q until a few years ago.

Mr Nunn said Walton has previous convictions but almost all are 20 years old. He is now living on Universal Credit at supported housing.