Man fled on van with life-threatening stab wound

A man escaped on the top of a van with a life-threatening injury after being stabbed in the stomach, a court has heard.

The victim was ambushed and attacked by Charles Hoe, 20, and Michael Flanigan, 30, outside a shop in Grangetown, Redcar, on 4 March, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The attackers were later involved in ramming a stolen car into parked vehicles as masked men sought a house, the court was told.

Hoe was sentenced to six years and eight months detention after he admitted inflicting intentional grievous bodily harm, while Flanigan was jailed for having pleaded guilty to wounding without intent.

Cleveland Police were contacted by staff at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough shortly after 22:30 BST on 4 March to reports a man had arrived with serious stab wounds, the court heard.

Doctors discovered internal bleeding which was life-threatening and required immediate surgery, the court heard, with the victim ending up having to spend five days in hospital.

The man declined to tell officers what had happened, but a search of CCTV footage revealed he had been dropped off by a white van which was tracked back to being outside a shop on Derwentwater Road in Grangetown, prosecutors said.

Footage showed the victim and two defendants encountering each other in the shop shortly after 22:00, with the pair attacking him when he came outside, the court heard.

A van had also arrived and the victim climbed on to the vehicle to get away from Hoe, who was lunging at him with a knife, the court heard.

The van then drove away with the victim clinging to the roof, the court heard.

As they walked away from the scene, Hoe, from Middlesbrough, could be heard saying he had "done" the victim twice, the court heard.

Both defendants were later involved in crashing a stolen car into other vehicles later that night, the court heard, having driven masked men to try and find a house.

Hoe, whose previous convictions included wounding someone when he was a teenager, read the court a letter in which he apologised for his actions and said he had been affected by childhood trauma.

Recorder Mark Giuliani said but for the actions of doctors, the victim "would have lost his life", adding it was "thankful" they were able to prevent "catastrophic bleeding".

He said as the older man Flanigan, from Redcar, should have been "setting an example" to his younger accomplice and tried to calm the situation, but instead he inflamed the incident and encouraged Hoe to stab the victim.

The court heard Hoe had been assessed as posing a high risk of causing serious harm to the public.

Both also admitted aggravated vehicle taking, with Hoe banned from driving for four years and four months and Flanigan for two years and eight months.

Speaking after the sentencing, Det Ch Insp Nicola Barker from Cleveland Police said it was an "horrific crime" centred on "using serious violence to instill fear and harm".

Despite the victim not cooperating, officers were still able to piece together what happened as part of their efforts to "protect the safety of the community by targeting and disrupting dangerous individuals", she added.

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