Halifax knifeman stabbed work colleague 12 times

Lee Joyce, who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder following a serious car crash six years ago, used the knife in “excessive self defence” during an altercation with a workmate at an address on Hopkinson Street, Halifax, in July last year.

Bradford Crown Court heard today (Tuesday, January 10) how the complainant was stabbed three times to the front and nine times in the back causing injuries including a collapsed lung and an arterial haemorrhage.

Judge Jonathan Gibson said the man also suffered a broken shoulder blade, at least one wound which penetrated the abdominal cavity and a cut to his liver.

“He required urgent hospital treatment without which there would have been a real risk of fatality. Even with it some risk remained,” said the judge.

The judge said the complainant had eventually made a physical recovery, but he had also suffered psychologically as demonstrated by his victim impact statement.

Jailing 26-year-old Joyce, of Calder Rise, Halifax, for five years and three months Judge Gibson said he was sentencing the defendant on the basis that the case involved “excessive self defence”.

Joyce had originally been charged with attempted murder, but the prosecution accepted his guilty plea to causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The court heard that Joyce had never been sent to prison before and his barrister Michelle Colborne KC said that he accepted causing each stab wound, but she said it was important to note that he did not bring trouble to his door.

She said that the complainant had travelled to the defendant’s home late at night after an argument.

“It is accepted that his actions required the defendant to act in self defence,” she submitted.

She said that in the midst of a physical encounter her client had picked up the knife in the belief that he was in real danger.

Miss Colborne said the altercation was short-lived and Joyce then panicked and ran from the scene.

She emphasised that Joyce had not gone looking for trouble that night, but that he had responded to it.

The court heard that the two men had been workmates and friends and there had been no previous animosity between them.

Police found a blood-stained knife at the address and the next day Joyce told a relative:”I’ve done something really bad. I’ve stabbed a lad.”

Joyce claimed that he had been attacked with a knife and a table leg and had been acting in self defence.

Judge Gibson said once Joyce picked up the knife and started to use it he acted in “an excessive and unjustified manner” that was of course highly risky.

The judge also made Joyce subject to an indefinite restraining order, which bans him from contacting the complainant in the future or going to his address.