Kettering drug addict stabbed man nine times in the back with pair of scissors in Dalkeith Place

A homeless crack cocaine addict with forty previous crimes on his record viciously stabbed another man with scissors outside a shop in Kettering town centre.

Samuel Stone told Her Honour Judge Adrienne Lucking that he carried the scissors to ensure he could cut up his crack cocaine after she had warned him during a previous case that he must not to carry a knife.

The 32-year-old, who gave his address at this morning's (Friday, July 23) hearing as Roman Road, Titchmarsh, retaliated after being punched and kicked in the street by stabbing the victim eight times in the back and once in the armpit.

Astonishingly, victim Liam White walked away from the scene then later discharged himself from KGH.

Northampton Crown Court was shown harrowing CCTV footage of Mr White punching and kicking Stone before walking away, then returning before Stone began grappling with him and stabbing him repeatedly in the back, causing several superficial wounds and one deeper one.

James Bide-Thomas, prosecuting, said Mr White had suffered a punctured lung in the incident.

Stone pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent, and to being in breach of a previous suspended sentence order.

The court was told that he had 18 previous convictions for 40 offences dating back to when he was 19. They included burglary, theft, battery, possession of a bladed article in 2016 and three offences of knife possession in 2018, for which he received a 14-month prison sentence. He then received another eight months in jail for a similar possession offence later that year.

Ten days before the stabbing, which took place on the evening of May 9 this year, Stone had been before the courts for driving while disqualified and for failing to provide a specimen. He was given two 16 week jail sentences which were suspended for 24-months.

Mitigating, barrister Caroline Bray, said that Stone 'did not set out for trouble.'

"The reason he had a pair of scissors with him was that he's a drug user," said Ms Bray.

"The reason he didn't have a knife was that he'd been before your honour before and had been warned. He needed a pair of scissors to deal with his crack cocaine habit.

"He's homeless and has no way of making a living. He and the victim used to be friends and they fell out. The victim is a drug dealer and their argument was to do with a car."

The court was told that there is a £2,000 price being offered for a retaliatory attack on Stone so he is happy to be locked in his cell for most of the day, as per current Covid conditions in prisons.

Sentencing Stone to 42 months in prison, Judge Lucking said: "(Mr White) set about you in a particularly unpleasant manner. He didn't have a weapon but did repeatedly strike you.

"It's clear you were both punched and kicked. You received a number of blows.

"But unfortunately you then chose to take a pair of scissors that you used to deal with your crack cocaine habit.

"This is an example of what can happen when you carry any form of blade because the temptation then is to use it.

"You have a very unhappy antecedent history. You have a long-established drug habit.. and you have failed to comply with court orders in the past."

Judge Lucking ordered Stone serve two months of the suspended sentence he had been in breach of, consecutive for the 40-month sentence for the GBH offence. He will serve half of the sentence before being released on licence.