Man laughed as he aimed at girl’s neck with knife

Nathan Holding had previously had a “short and troubled relationship” with the girl and after drinking together that day they argued about his taking a battery for her phone.

After she stormed away from him in the street he went back into his grandfather’s house in Wakefield and armed himself with a pizza knife.

He then followed the 16-year-old and caught up with her in fields. When he failed to persuade her to come back with him he turned on her, Tony Kelbrick, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

He threw her to the ground, put his hands round her neck and started strangling her, telling her he was going to kill her. She could only make gurgling noises until Holding let go and began, she thought, to punch her instead.

She only realised he was in fact stabbing her when she saw he had a knife and desperately tried to push his arms away as he aimed for her neck, laughing as he did so.

The girl rolled over and tried to crawl away from him but he then stabbed her in the back, puncturing her lung.

Mr Kelbrick said Holding repeatedly said he was going to kill her and she feared he would until he was interrupted by a passing couple who went to her aid.

They initially thought he was trying to rape her when they saw him holding her down but after he ran off and she staggered to her feet they saw she had blood all down her chest and a wound to her elbow with blood pouring out.

Paramedics and an ambulance arrived but the injuries were so severe the air ambulance was summoned and the 16-year-old was flown to Leeds General Infirmary for surgery.

She was later moved to St James’s in Leeds and her injuries included a 17cm gash from her collarbone, a cut on her elbow which reached to the bone and a stab wound to her throat as well as the back wound which penetrated her lung.

Mr Kelbrick said the knife was later recovered at the scene with the handle broken from the blade by the force of the blows.

Holding, 18 of Greenbank Road, Altofts, Wakefield, admitted wounding with intent and was sentenced to seven and a half years in a young offender institution with an extended four and a half years licence.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC told him although his victim had made a good physical recovery she would carry the scars of his actions.

Holding had a previous conviction for stabbing his father and he said that and the latest offence suggested a worrying pattern, but the sentence would mean he was on licence until the age of 30.

Tim Stead, for Holding, said alcohol had played a part in the offence and he was finding his first custodial sentence difficult.