Addict knifeman stabbed shopper on her way home
A WOMAN was stabbed by a drug addict as she walked home from the shops.
Graham Grayson, 52, received a 13-year sentence for the ‘horrendous’ incident – which happened in broad daylight in Wythenshawe. A van driver who performed a ‘citizen’s arrest’ and recovered the knife which Grayson wielded was given £500 from public funds to recognise his ‘bravery.’
Manchester Crown Court heard how last month, on June 5, the woman was walking home after shopping in Wythenshawe town centre. She began to feel like she was being followed, and then felt a shove to her back.
At first, she thought it might be a neighbour playing a ‘prank’ on her, but soon realised she was being attacked.
Grayson started shouting and said he ‘needed’ her bag, which contained her purse and phone. He started pulling at her bag. At first she thought Grayson had punched her, but after seeing blood she realised she’d been stabbed twice to the arm.
She resisted and called out for help from a nearby van driver, who got out and asked if she was ok. Grayson ran off and the van driver pursued him.
He wrestled Grayson to the ground, detaining him until the police arrived.
He also provided the knife to the police, which Grayson had discarded.
The woman was helped after knocking on the door of a nearby house.
A judge said Grayson, a heroin addict since the age of 16, had gone out ‘specifically to steal and if necessary rob someone,’ while armed with a knife.
The court heard that the woman has been in ‘constant pain and discomfort’ since, and has to take painkillers.
Judge Richard Mansell QC said he regarded Grayson as a ‘dangerous’ offender, and handed down an extended sentence. He said that Grayson had previously received a seven year jail term in 2003 for a ‘quite horrendous’ incident, where he and a woman beat and tortured a man.
The judge sentenced Grayson to eight years in jail, and ordered an extended licence period of five years. He will have to serve at least two-thirds of the eight-year sentence. Grayson, of Nuffield Road, Wythenshawe, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and possession of a blade.
Defending, Ellen Shaw said Grayson has shown ‘genuine remorse.’