‘I will cut you’: York man jailed for lunging at friend with ‘wicked looking’ knives

A York man has been jailed for threatening to stab his friends with two large kitchen knives and shoplifting while on bail.

Lewis Kelvin Smith, 20, went to the victim’s flat armed with two “wicked looking” kitchen knives and knocked on the door, York Crown Court heard.

Once inside, he threatened to kill his “close” friend and lunged at him with a knife which came “within an inch or two” of his stomach, said prosecutor Jade Bucklow.

When the man’s girlfriend came to the door, he pointed one of the blades “within touching distance” of her.

Smith told her: “I will cut you. I have two knives, I have a knife, I have a knife, look I have two.”

The named male victim, who had been friends with Smith for many years, pushed Smith towards the hallway and out of the front door which he locked behind him.

The victims called police out as Smith banged on the door and shouted threats, said Ms Bucklow.

The male victim said that Smith was “off his head on something and could have done anything”.

His “terrified” girlfriend, who was also named in court, said she genuinely feared that Smith “would have killed or at least hurt” her partner if he hadn’t managed to get the crazed attacker out of the flat. She said she was “in shock” and frozen with fear.

Shoplifting spree

Smith, of no fixed address, was arrested at his grandmother’s house the following day and bailed following the incident in August last year.

But on 22 January this year he was up to his old tricks again when he stole £162 of goods, including four bottles of vodka, from the Co-op on York’s Broadway.

He was identified on CCTV and brought in for questioning again but refused to answer police questions. He was charged with shoplifting but then failed to turn up at York Magistrates’ Court for sentence in February after having been released on court bail.

The following day, 8 February, he stole about £50 of items, including three bottles of brandy, from the Co-op on Hull Road.

On this occasion, his “shifty” behaviour drew the attention of security staff who stopped him leaving the store and called police. 

Smith, who was on a community order for previous offences at the time of the offences, was arrested but again refused to answer police questions.

He ultimately admitted all the offences including threatening with a knife in a private place, carrying a bladed article in public, two counts of shoplifting and failing to surrender to court custody.

Multiple convictions

He appeared for sentence via video link at the Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday).

The court heard he had 12 previous convictions for 32 offences including 26 thefts since 2018, when he started going “off the rails” following the death of his mother.  

He had previous convictions for burglary including one in July last year, when he was given a community sentence but failed to comply with the order. In January this year he was convicted of another burglary.

Defence barrister Esther Bukoye said Smith’s behaviour inside the flat was “out of character” as he had no track record for violence.

She said that Smith and the male victim were “as close as brothers” and that the knife incident stemmed from an unfounded allegation about Smith.

Judge Simon Hickey condemned Smith for terrorising the victims with two “wicked looking” kitchen knives which could have caused “huge damage” but were not ultimately used to inflict injury.

He told Smith: “Taking a knife, or two knives, as wickedly looking as these were, could have resulted in life-changing events both for you and the victims.

“You are clearly a risk to members of the public, particularly to these two (victims).”

Smith was jailed for 11-and-a-half months but will only serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.