Shrewsbury glass attack victim: I've been scarred for life

The extent of the challenge facing officers was today made clear in figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request from the Shropshire Star.

Bottles or glasses - 6

Knife or dagger - 105

Sharp instruments - 20

2013

Bottles of glasses - 7

Knife or dagger - 91

Razor - 1

Sharp instruments - 5

2014

Bottles or glasses - 7

Knife or dagger - 93

Razor - 1

It shows that more than half of reported knife and glassing crimes in the areas covered by Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin councils over the last three years remain unsolved.

Many of those offences include complaints about people carrying knives, which are more difficult to investigate.

Knives that are brandished can be easily hidden or discarded before officers can intervene.

But there is a concern that blades are being carried as a matter of routine, either through a feeling of wanting to be protected or even as a fashion accessory.

Today's statistics include attacks carried out using glasses, which often happen in chaotic circumstances when alcohol is a factor.

One victim of a glass attack in a Shropshire bar today spoke of how his life was changed as a result of what happened to him.

Jamie Smalley was attacked in the Vodka Source Bar in Shrewsbury after tensions had begun to build between himself and his attacker Sylvester Essel while they were celebrating a friend's 21st birthday in April 2013.

Mr Smalley, 23, was left with a scar on his nose following the attack, where a court was shown CCTV, which captured Essel forcing a glass into his face.

"I now have a scar on my face which I will have for life, and obviously that has been a big change," he said.

"I am still banned from a lot of the pubs and bars in Shrewsbury as a result of this – and I was the victim of the crime.

"When it happened I remember being shocked, and then knowing I just needed to get out of the bar."

But Mr Smalley said these incidents are likely to continue to happen in Shropshire and Shrewsbury as he does not think there is much that can be done to stop them.

He said: "I am not really sure what you can do to stop things like glass attacks.

"Maybe plastic cups is the way to do it, but most of the places don't seem to be keen on the idea, although I do know some do. The problem is, when people are drunk like that they will find anything to use as a weapon and there is not much that can be done about it."

Essel, 36, of Alma Street in Frankwell, Shrewsbury, was found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after trail and was handed a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

He is one of scores of attackers who have been brought to justice in the last three years.

In September last year a teenager was sent to a young offenders institution for 16 months following a terrifying attack on a taxi driver where he used a knife to make cuts to his throat.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard how on May 13, Kieren Baxter, 18, attacked Singh Bajwa in Ketley Bank, Telford, leaving him with cuts to his neck and needing 10 stitches to his hand after the knife got stuck in his hand while trying to defend himself.

In December a Telford man who stabbed a younger man with a knife and punctured his kidney is today beginning a three-year prison sentence.

Alan Evans, 37, of Mercia Drive, Leegomery, admitted unlawfully wounding Jermaine Moore in Wellington in July, 2014.

Mr Moore's kidney was punctured with the stab form the lock knife and he lost a lot of blood.

Evans was jailed for three years and four months. He will serve half in prison and the rest on licence.

In June last year, a woman was jailed after stabbing a man with an eight-inch kitchen knife in Telford.

Katasha Bushell was jailed for 10 months for her attack on Jamie Humphries at a house in Telford.

Judge Robin Onions, sitting at Shrewsbury Crown Court, said he had no option but to put 20-year-old Bushell behind bars to send out a strong message about the consequences of knife crime.

In February, 2014 a woman was jailed for more than 10 years for stabbing a man outside a pub – minutes after he told her she was "fit".

Marie Watton, 26, had taken a cocktail of drink and drugs when she took exception to a chat-up line made by Jonathan Barras in the Duke of York pub in Telford. She left the pub and went to a friend's house to search for a knife before returning to stab him.

A single blow from her caused a six-inch deep wound, cutting through his liver, kidney and small bowel and causing a collapsed lung. He required emergency surgery to save his life at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke-on-Trent.

West Mercia Police makes it clear on its website that it is against the law to carry an offensive weapon in a public place without a reasonable explanation.

Sarah-Jane Lynch, of West Mercia Police, said: "This is still something which we will deal with robustly. It is against the law to carry any offensive weapon or use any knife in a threatening manner."