Saw attacker’s stand-off with police in canal
JON MACPHERSON
ATEENAGER who attacked a man with a garden saw was involved in a stand off with police in the middle of a canal.
Benjamin Cronshaw got into an argument with friends in a car on Edmund Street in Rishton before confronting a neighbour nearby having a cigarette, Burnley Crown Court heard.
The 19-year-old grabbed the victim by the throat before then swinging an 18-inch folding saw at his head causing him to flee.
The court heard how Cronshaw was later found in the middle of a canal and told approaching officers ‘If you come any closer I’ll drown myself’.
When he was eventually ‘coaxed out’ he told police ‘The reason I did it was so people could start paying attention to me’.
Cronshaw, of Blackburn Road, Great Harwood, pleaded guilty to ABH and possessing an offensive weapon.
He was given nine months custody in a youth offenders institute, suspended for 18 months, with a three-month curfew, 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to complete 150 hours’ unpaid work.
Stephen Parker, prosecuting, said the incident started at around 9.15pm on December 28 last year.
The court heard how Cronshaw got into an argument with friends inside a Vauxhall Corsa and when a neighbour tried to intervene the defendant ‘flipped out’ and grabbed him by the throat.
The victim then pushed Cronshaw away but he came back at him holding an 18-inch folding saw with a serrated blade.
Mr Parker told the court how Cronshaw ‘swung it towards his head in a downward motion’ and the victim grabbed hold of the blade to stop it hitting him before he ran off.
The victim was later taken to hospital for treatment on a ‘superficial’ finger wound.
Recorder Simon Medland QC said Cronshaw had a ‘large number of previous convictions but none for violence’ and it was ‘out of character’.
Referring to a psychiatric report prepared for the hearing, he said: “Although the defendant has intellectual difficulties of long standing, the blunt reality is he wasn’t helping himself because he was drunk and an habitual user of cannabis.
“It’s got to the point where it’s significantly affecting his behaviour.”
Sentencing, Recorder Medland told Cronshaw he had ‘caused all sorts of grief and heartache’ to his mum and dad.