Knife and hammer man jailed

A MAN with a grudge about a dog soiling his trainers attacked the pet’s owner when he saw him at a bus stop two days later.

Leeds Crown Court heard Reece Moore blamed Thomas Roderick for what his dog had done on November 24 and armed himself with a claw hammer and a knife after seeing him in Netherton on November 26.

Michael Greenhalgh, prosecuting, said Mr Roderick was at a bus stop at the junction of Coppice Drive and Rowan Avenue Mews at around 8pm and heard Moore shout: “Yo Tom”.

He saw Moore approaching but by the time he realised he was carrying a knife and a claw hammer they were face to face.

He grabbed Moore round the waist and ducked down, trying to protect himself, but was struck with the hammer to the left of his eye and stabbed in the right side of ribs with the knife.

He managed to pull away and ran down Coppice Drive trying to knock on doors to get some help. Moore followed for a time saying: “Come on then.”

Mr Roderick managed to ring for the police and was treated in hospital for a puncture wound to his side, a fractured eye socket and a cut over his eye which needed stitches. Moore was arrested a couple of days later.

Georgina Goring, representing Moore who appeared over a video link from prison in Leeds, said the incident stemmed from what had happened two days earlier when the dog soiled his trainers and the things said at that time to him.

Ms Goring said: “When the defendant saw the complainant on the day in question he realises now he acted in a way that was incredibly wrong and unacceptable.”

Moore, 25, of Juniper Grove, Netherton, admitted wounding with intent and two charges of possessing offensive weapons.

Jailing him for a total of five years and four months, Judge Tom Bayliss QC said the public were concerned about the use of knifes.

Moore had known Mr Roderick for some to years but on November 24 the judge said: “There was an argument and a scuffle because apparently his dog defecated on your footwear.

“Following that incident you telephoned Mr Roderick threatening to put a hammer through his skull and made good that threat on November 26 when you saw him doing no more than standing at a bus stop waiting for a friend.

“You shouted at him, walked towards him in an aggressive manner using a claw hammer and a knife too late for Mr Roderick to run away.”

The judge said he rejected that there was provocation, adding “if there was it was a very minor degree.”