A Thornaby father-to-be has been jailed for more than two years after stabbing a man in Stockton town centre.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Liam McLaren was “full of it and wanting to fight” when he came across his victim at about 2.20pm on February 22, last year. A fight broke out which resulted in McLaren lashing out and stabbing the victim in his right side.
The injured man was taken to hospital and received stiches for a wound which was 2cm deep. The Middlesbrough court heard the pair knew each other and there had been issues between them prior to the attack.
Paul Abrahams, prosecuting, told the court how the victim had been walking towards the Red Lion pub in the town centre when he saw McLaren coming towards him on a push bike. In the victim’s word, McLaren appeared “full of it and wanting to fight”, said Mr Abrahams.
The victim punched McLaren and a tussle ensued, part of which could be seen on CCTV footage shown in court. It led to McLaren pulling out a Stanley knife and stabbing his victim in the side.
He was arrested in April and remanded in custody for 49 days – his first experience of time behind bars – before being released on a tag. On the day of trial, he pleaded guilty to section 20 wounding without intent and carrying a bladed article in a public place.
The court heard the 28-year-old had nine convictions for nine previous offences, including two incidents of battery. Chris Morrison, mitigating, said McLaren had not been in custody prior to the attack and it was his first experience of the “clang of the doors”.
The attack was not pre-meditated, he suggested, and the victim “was not a vulnerable man”. He said the CCTV footage of the incident showed the two men were “squaring up to each other” with the victim in “a fighting stance”.
He appeared to be a man “who could handle himself”, he added. The court heard the two men knew each other and, according to McLaren, there had been “bullying” from the victim towards his family before the incident.
He is due to become a father in May and “he knows he has to provide for another person”, said Mr Morrison. In his sentencing remarks, Judge Jonathan Carroll noted the incident occurred “slap-bang in the shopping area of Stockton in the middle of the afternoon”.
He added: “The general public is entitled to go about their business safely without the sight of street violence using a knife”. He jailed McLaren, of Claremont Court in Thornaby, for 25 months and two weeks.
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