A judge gave a teenager a stern five word reminder as he sentenced him for a horrific stabbing outside a pub.
George Bennett, who already had a series of convictions for serious violence, escaped a life sentence today after stabbing a man in the back outside the premises in Southport last October. In his sentencing, the judge warned him he was ‘lucky’, saying of the victim: “He didn’t die, you’re lucky”. At the start of the case last month, Liverpool Crown Court heard how victim Reece Ashall had been enjoying a night out in the Fox and Goose pub when he began speaking to another man named Jacob Cleaver, who was beside the bar.
CCTV footage showed Mr Ashall “seeming to be either calming down” the man or “ushering him away”, but seconds later Cleaver “very quickly punched him with some force to his face”, causing him to fall to the floor. He continued to attack Mr Ashall, kicking and punching him, before 19-year-old Bennett approached with a knife in his right hand and stabbed the victim in the back.
A third defendant, Jamie Turner, was initially seen to grab the knifeman’s arm before attempting to pull Cleaver away from the victim, reports the Liverpool Echo. However, he then “became embroiled in the scuffle” and lashed out at door staff who were attempting to break up the fight.
Ms Ashall was taken to hospital, where he remained for six days. He suffered a collapsed lung, which required three blood transfusions and a chest drain.
Cleaver, from Long Eaton, Derbyshire was sentenced to 14 months in prison, while Turner, also of Long Eaton, was jailed for eight months. Bennett’s sentencing was adjourned until today, as he was warned he faced a life sentence due to his record of violent crimes.
But the judge declined to pass a life sentence, instead handing him an 11 year extended sentence, with six years in custody and a further five years on licence conditions following his release from prison. He also put him under a serious violence reduction order, giving police powers to stop and search Bennett for weapons at any time for two years after his release.
Robert Wyn Jones, defending, said Bennett had a “background of trauma, insight and more recently remorse, but had shown “a determination to change” and “a strong desire to turn his life around.”
He said: “He was still just 18 when the most recent offences were committed in October last year. In my submission, it would be wrong at this stage in his life to throw away the key and consider a life sentence.”
Sentencing Bennett, Judge Brian Cummings KC said: “You went equipped with a knife. You had a knife on you already. Pausing to outline the seriousness of this, if the victim had died, that would be murder, and you would be looking at life with a minimum of 25 years in prison.
“He didn’t die, you’re lucky about that, but that is the sort of serious consequence you have to exposed yourself to and now you need to keep that clearly in mind going forward.”
“There’s a significant risk of you committing further offences and causing serious harm to others. That’s the reality. I can’t shy away from it given your history
“I must therefore consider whether the fixed term sentence of six years would provide the public with sufficient safeguards, or what other protective sentence is required, either a life sentence or an extended sentence, and I have considered that carefully.
“A life sentence is a sentence of last resort. You’re still only 19…. I turn to the extended sentence. In my judgement that’s absolutely required and justified in your case.”
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