‘Carry a knife and you will go to prison’ – York judge’s warning as he jails teenager

The Recorder at York Crown Court has spoken out about the dangers of teens carrying knives in public.

Judge Sean Morris told the court: “I’ve got to get through to the kids who are carrying knives – you will go to prison for it. Leave them at home.”

Judge Morris was speaking during a court case where a 19-year old man had gone home and got a kitchen knife, after an argument, to use during a fight.

Ryan Clive North injured his 16-year old victim by swinging the 4.5 inch blade at him during the fight back on the evening of 5 June in Pickering.

The teenage victim was left with a puncture wound to his ribcage and cuts on his arms.

The court heard that Ryan North, of Riverside View in Malton, was walking through Pickering town centre around 7pm, when he passed a group of teenagers he knew.

They were sitting on a wall on Market Place and one of them shouted at him to come over and that he needed to speak to North about staying away from his girlfriend.

Prosecutor Kate Barnes said that North carried on walking towards the friend’s flat he was staying at. He grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and went back outside.

Running towards the teenager who had shouted at him, North pulled the knife from his pocket and began swinging it at the boy, who put his hands up. His victim then pushed North down on the pavement and sat on top of him but North carried on swinging the knife at his ribcage.

Eventually his victim managed to get the knife off North by holding his arms down and grabbing it whilst still on top of him. North ran off after the struggle.

The victim told police: “I honestly think he would have killed me.”

Other teenagers filmed the fight and the victim’s mother contacted the police after she was sent the video of her son being attacked.

Family in court

Ryan North’s family were in court to support him. The 19-year old had left home after an argument and was staying at a friend’s in Pickering when the fight happened.

Defending North, Glenn Parsons told the court that there had been ongoing friction between the two involved and that North had felt he had been ‘surrounded and confronted’ by the group of four teenagers.

Mr Parsons said his client suffers from ADHD and was on medication for depression. He had been training to become a tree surgeon, but that had gone wrong after he stopped taking his medication.

Judge Morris told the court he accepted that the 16-year old victim was “no innocent” but said he could not consider a suspended sentence because North had used a knife.

Mr Parsons told the court that his client had impulsively picked up the curved kitchen knife that evening. He now accepts he should have stayed in the flat to avoid the trouble outside.

North pleaded guilty to the possession of a bladed article in a public place and attempted wounding with intent.

Sentencing North to 26 months in prison, Judge Morris said: “The problem is, young man, that knives kill. Ribs are quite tough but between each rib is cartilage.

“There it’s like stabbing a pack of warm butter and this 4 inch kitchen knife could have gone straight into that man’s heart.

“He would have continued shouting for a few seconds as his chest filled with blood, but then he would have died. And you would have been up on a murder charge.

“That sentence would have been 25 years.”

The judge continued: “I’ve got to get through to kids who are out carrying knives- you will go to prison for it.”