29
Jan
'An appalling act of violence': Police react to Harrogate man jailed for knife and boiling water attack
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North Yorkshire Police has said a man who was jailed for causing a punctured and collapsed lung, and scalding a woman by pouring boiling water committed an “appalling act of violence”.
Alexander Decker, 30, of Chatsworth Grove in Harrogate, was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison at York Crown Court yesterday (January 28) after stabbing a man at his flat and scalding a woman causing third-degree burns.
Decker refused to let two female visitors leave his flat and started waving a “very large” knife around to intimidate them on December 1 last year.
Prosecutor Amber Hobson said that when the women made their bid for escape from Decker’s flat, he poured boiling water on one of them as she fled down the communal stairs.
He then chased them outside, still waving the knife around, and dragged one of the women back inside the flat, whose lounge was eerily empty except for a single computer.
The 30-year-old then stabbed a named 18-year-old man who was trying to rescue the women twice in the leg and once in the chest, perforating his chest cavity and piercing the left lung.
Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, sentenced Decker to a consecutive prison sentences for wounding, threatening with a knife, ABH and breaching a suspended sentence.
Following sentencing, Thomas Bowman, detective constable from Harrogate CID, said the case highlighted the “devastating impact knife crimes can have”.
He said:
This was an appalling act of violence that left the victim with serious injuries. Thanks to the swift response of officers, bravery of witnesses and victims, we were able to secure vital evidence and bring the offender to justice.
There is absolutely no excuse for using a knife to commit violence. Sadly, this case highlights once again the devastating impact knife crime can have.
Although incidents like this are thankfully rare in North Yorkshire, we continue to see the consequences of knife crime across the country. As a force, we remain committed to working with our partners to raise awareness of the dangers of carrying a knife.
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