Sheffield Crown Court: Two thugs have been put behind bars after a cyclist was stabbed

Sheffield Crown Court heard on January 10 how Stephen Whittaker, aged 20, of Chalmers Drive, near Edenthorpe, Doncaster, and a 16-year-old youth, from Knottingley, West Yorkshire, jumped from a passing red car before one of them stabbed a cyclist in the back around Wheatley Hills and Intake, in Doncaster.

The judge – Recorder Benjamin Nolan KC – told the defendants: “You could have killed him and had you done so you would have been facing a charge of murder to which you would have been liable to a sentence of life imprisonment. Fortunately, providence was on your side and he did not die.”

Prosecuting barrister Amy Earnshaw said on the evening of June 13, 2022, the cyclist who describes himself as vulnerable with a brain injury and medical conditions, had been heading towards Sandringham Primary School when he was attacked.

Ms Earnshaw added: “He saw a small red car and two males alighted from that car and ran after him and both were in possession of knives and they ran directly behind the complainant and he continued to try to cycle away but they were chasing him and he felt a sharp pain in the side of his back. He knew he had been stabbed with a knife and he fell off his bike to the floor and the two males ran away.”

The driver of the red car realised there had been an altercation and a stabbing but the two defendants got back in her vehicle and told her to drive away, according to Ms Earnshaw.

Ms Earnshaw said another motorist spotted the complainant and the emergency services were alerted and he was taken to Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital, and then transferred to Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital. He was treated for a stab wound to his back and a punctured kidney.

Whittaker, who has previous convictions, and the youth, who also has convictions to his name and cannot be identified for legal reasons, both pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article and to unlawful wounding. The youth also admitted failing to surrender to custody.

Defence barrister Edward Moss said Whittaker, who has suffered after finding his father dead at home, has gone off the rails but he has a supportive family and he is sorry.

Mr Moss added that the incident had been a ‘chance encounter’ and it is not known what the ‘argument’ had been with the complainant.

Benn Robinson, defending, said that while the youth has been remanded in custody since November he has retained a ‘gold standard’ for his behaviour and he has been engaging with the adult services and his future looks brighter.

Recorder Nolan told the defendants: “No sooner than that red car came to a halt, the two of you simultaneously leapt out of it and ran towards him and one of you – it does not matter which – stabbed him in the back.”

He sentenced Whittaker to two years of detention in a Young Offender Institution and he sentenced the youth to an 18-month detention and training order.