A MAN has been jailed for his involvement in the thick of a street disturbance in which a teenager suffered serious stab wounds.

Michael Alexander Winn was among six men and youths arrested after the outbreak of violence in Grange Villa, at 9.20pm on Saturday July 25, last year.

Durham Crown Court was told police and paramedics attended the “ongoing incident”, in Albert Street, where an 18-year-old male was found with multiple stab wounds.

Uzma Khan, prosecuting, said he was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition, having suffered the wounds at two different locations in the village.

Winn was identified on CCTV in the street and arrested, but in his police interview gave no replies.

The footage showed him in the street, banging on a door with an implement before becoming involved in a fight in which at one point he ended up on the ground.

The 35-year-old defendant, of Derwent Close, Sacriston, was charged with affray and possessing an offensive weapon in public.

It was originally alleged that the offensive weapon was a machete, which Winn denied, but his admission to the charges were made on the basis the weapon was a metal baseball bat.

That basis was accepted by the Crown when the case was listed for trial, before magistrates, on June 30.

Miss Khan said Winn’s ten previous convictions for 13 offences including relevant crimes of possessing an offensive weapon, affray and other public order matters.

She said he had only been released three days before the incident after serving a four-week sentence, imposed for breaching a non-molestation order, in June last year.

Liam O’Brien, for Winn, said various other things may have taken place on the day, of the incident, but his client was not answering for those events.

“It’s clear he did get involved, however, in a disgraceful incident, aggravated by the fact it was so soon after his release from custody.

“Clearly his conduct on post-sentence supervision left a significant amount be desired, but more recently he has shown a far higher motivation to comply.”

Mr O’Brien said this has involved working with agencies to address his drug and alcohol misuse.

“He’s a man who isn’t where he needs to be yet to stop offending, but he is moving in the right direction.”

Recorder Alex Menary said from viewing the CCTV footage, Winn was involved at the scene for three minutes and 40 seconds, while holding the bat, and banging at a door with it, before a fight began in which he went to the ground.

Imposing 14 months’ imprisonment he said it was too serious an incident to enable him to suspend the sentence.

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