A PROLIFIC offender has been jailed for seven years after stabbing a man in a targeted attack in Barrow town centre.

Darren Knowles, 50, of Anson Street, pleaded guilty to attacking Cory Ryan and his mother Nicola Ryan on Dalkeith Street in the early hours of November 20, 2022.

 

The attacked left Mr Ryan with a 'deep and gaping' wound to the shoulder.

Judge Medland heard that Knowles, a dad of three, had previously been in a long-term relationship with Nicola Ryan which came to a 'bitter end and caused some resentment'.

At the time of the attack Knowles was the subject of a non-molestation order for sending malicious communications with 'clear evidence of threats' to Ms Ryan, just two months prior.

Knowles was convicted of wounding the son and attempting to wound his ex.

The Ryans had attended a family wedding on November 19 after which a group, including the mother and son, headed out into Barrow.

READ MORE: Barrow man jailed after stabbing victim following nightclub altercation

When the pair were searching for a taxi home at around 4.20 am, Mr Ryan said he saw a hooded figure walking toward them, then recognising Knowles, who was visibly brandishing a knife he had pulled from his pocket.

Mr Ryan said that he shouted 'move, mother' shifting in front of her with his back to Knowles and he felt a pain in his shoulder 'that felt like a punch'.

At this point other people were approaching and Knowles was reported to have run away.

In a statement given a month after the stabbing, Mr Ryan said the incident 'had affected him massively'.

He said he suffers from lack of sleep, night terrors and has been left without confidence, never leaving his house and in frequent pain due to the injury.

Mitigating, defence barrister Claire Larton said that while Knowles has a long and extensive criminal record, the vast majority were drug and theft-related, with relatively few violent offences.

She told how Knowles had been clean for six years after overcoming a 13-year heroin addiction and had endured a 'difficult, chaotic childhood'.

She stated that in his pre-sentence report Knowles 'had expressed regret, remorse, and a sense of shame, having essentially undone the hard work of the last five years'.

In passing sentence, Judge Medland said: "It is greatly to your credit that your lifelong heroin addiction was something that you managed to conquer.

"Regrettably, however, I have to take account of your long criminal record.

"To your credit also is the fact that you got yourself a qualification and a job, and it is in a sense, very sad, that you let yourself and everybody else down by your conduct on November 20, 2022.

"On that occasion, you had brooded upon family problems, and you had decided to take revenge, and that you did, by arming yourself, following Cory Ryan and Nicola Ryan, and wounding him in a most serious strike with a knife, that you were unlawfully in possession of.

"It’s a minor miracle in fact, that the injury isn't more serious than it is.”

Knowles watched on impassively via a videolink from prison as Judge Medland handed down a sentence of seven years for wounding with intent, four years for attempting to wound (Nicola Ryan) with intent, and one year each for possession of a knife, and breach of a non-molestation order.

The sentences will run concurrently for a total of seven years - two-thirds of which will be served in prison.