Row over text messages ended in stabbing outside Smethwick pub

A 20-year-old stabbed an older man with a key after a 'puerile' exchange of messages between the pair turned ugly, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Connor Whelan and Kyle Thomas had swapped threats and insults via social media the previous night, the court heard.

The following night – New Years Eve, 2017 – they bought each other drinks, chatted and went outside to smoke together after meeting at the Seven Stars in Cape Hill, Smethwick.

But the mood suddenly changed outside the pub during the early hours of New Year's Day when Whelan was said to take issue with the content of one of the messages previously sent by Mr Thomas.

Mr Paul Spratt, prosecuting said: "This was a ludicrous state of affairs. Mr Thomas is a friend of the defendant's father and the content of the text messages exchanged between them was puerile.

"When they met up at the pub the following evening the defendant could not have been more hospitable. The evening had gone without difficulty. They had chatted and been out for a cigarette together on a number of occasions.

Belittled

"Then for reasons unexplained the defendant took exception to one of the earlier messages in which Mr Thomas had referred to him as 'son'. He claimed this had belittled him by treating him as a child.

"Mr Thomas tried to defuse the situation by putting his arm around the defendant who accused him of being gay. Both men had been drinking for some time."

In the end Mr Thomas lost patience and 'called him out,' continued Mr Spratt.

The victim later told police that Whelan reached into his pouch and pulled something out that he assumed was a weapon but did not get a good look at it.

He tried to get away down Cape Hill but Whelan came up alongside him and jabbed at him with the weapon, leaving him with a small wound to the left side of his chest, the court was told.

Mr Spratt concluded: "The defendant said the weapon was a key and it is impossible for us to suggest it was anything other than that."

Mr Neil Davis, defending Whelan, who is now 21, said: "This was totally out of character for this young man. Obviously drink played a part in his behaviour and luckily it resulted in a superficial wound with no lasting physical effect on the victim."

Whelan, of Windmill Lane, Smethwick, who was of previous good character, admitted wounding. He was given a 16-month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work.