Knife thug slashed rival dad outside leisure centre in kids football league row

Daily Record

2 days ago

James Kelly asked the other dad "for a f****** word" before attacking him with a Stanley knife.
A knife thug slashed a rival dad when a row over a kids football league erupted into violence. James Kelly used a Stanley knife to inflict the wound on the other man, after asking him for a "f****** word" during a training session. He then lunged at the man and struck him with the weapon, leaving him permanently scarred in the altercation, which took place outside a leisure centre.
The father-of-two, a full-time carer to his disabled son, had never found himself in trouble with the law previously. But tonight he is beginning a prison sentence over the incident, which was described in court as a "few seconds of madness". He shook his head as was sent to prison, after his own defence counsel labelled the ill-fated episode "utterly baffling".
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Liverpool Crown Court heard today that James Kent attended Halewood Leisure Centre on the evening of February 29 last year in order to take his son to football training. There, at around 7pm, he was approached by Kelly, who told him that he "wanted a f****** word". Nick Cockrell, prosecuting, said the men moved from the football pitches towards an area outside the leisure centre.
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CCTV footage showed the defendant leaving the premises with a Stanley knife clenched in his right hand and Mr Kent following closely behind him. Once they had reached a secluded area beside some disused pitches, the 43-year-old, of Tewkesbury Close in Halewood, was said to have told his victim "I'll f****** cut you" before "lunging at him" with the weapon.
Mr Kent responded by raising his arms in order to protect himself, leading to him suffering a "relatively superficial" slash wound in this area. In a statement which was read to the court to his behalf, he described being left with a three-to-four inch scar to his forearm as a result of an altercation which supposedly concerned his "football club leaving the league".
He added: "My son saw me bleeding and was completely distraught. The trauma has deeply affected him. He has become anxious, withdrawn and fearful. Football now causes him worry and fear. The idea that something so violent could happen in a setting meant to promote teamwork is deeply upsetting."
Liverpool Echo reports Mr Cockrell said: "There has clearly been some background and build up to it over some considerable time. In reality, it all relates to, on the face of it, a relatively minor disagreement."
When Judge David Swinnerton remarked that "one wonders what makes a man of good character take a Stanley blade to a leisure centre over a row over children's football".
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Mr Cockrell continued: "There is something about football, particularly youth football. We have seen people on the sidelines react in ways which one would never normally expect. This is a man of previous good character with a blade in a leisure centre, which he then used in the course of a physical confrontation."
Judge Swinnerton went on to add: "It should never have escalated this far. It concerned a youth football league. What on Earth was he doing with that blade in his hand?" Philip Astbury, defending, replied: "It is utterly baffling, frankly. I do not think either man was expecting to bump into the other on that particular evening. It was not taken with the express intention of using it.
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"What happened, happened very quickly. It is a baffling case. One can fairly say that it is a complete aberration on his part with everything he does for the community, for young people who play football and have been fortunate enough to come across Mr Kelly in that capacity." Mr Astbury detailed how Kelly's older son suffers from "serious disabilities".
He told the court: "In addition to football and volunteering, he has given up work to care for his son. The prospect of having to leave his son is, frankly, appalling. I cannot say that it is anyone else's fault but, on this few seconds of madness, he has had time to reflect. This has had a huge impact on him and his family.
"The situation with Mr Kent had reached a point where his wife had been forced to make a complaint to the police. I hear what your honour says about grown men knowing better and football, but it had gone a little further than that." When the judge remarked that the sport can cause a "loss of all sense of reason and rationality".
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Mr Astbury added: "The irony is that he is not one of those dads. He is the dad who makes it all possible. He is the dad calming things down on the sidelines when people get heated. That is why this is such an aberration. That is his true character. He has absolutely learned his lesson as a consequence of all of this. Your honour is aware of the difficulty it would create for his older son.
"His younger son is not in good health either. This is a moment of madness, not to be repeated on his behalf. This is a case where a suspended sentence could be justly imposed."When the judge remarked that the sport can cause a "loss of all sense of reason and rationality", Mr Astbury added: "The irony is that he is not one of those dads. He is the dad who makes it all possible.
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"He is the dad calming things down on the sidelines when people get heated. That is why this is such an aberration. That is his true character. He has absolutely learned his lesson as a consequence of all of this. Your honour is aware of the difficulty it would create for his older son. His younger son is not in good health either. This is a moment of madness, not to be repeated on his behalf.
"This is a case where a suspended sentence could be justly imposed." Kelly, who the ECHO has been told was then the serving chairman of the Merseyside Youth Football League, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of a bladed article in a public place on the day he was due to stand trial.
He wore a black suit over a white shirt and grey tie, shaking his head and puffed out his cheeks as he was jailed for 10 months and handed a five-year restraining order. Sentencing, Judge Swinnerton said: "I have read references from friends, neighbours and family about the good things that you have done, both for your own family but also more widely in the community.
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"It is a genuine tragedy and genuinely sad to see you standing in the dock facing sentence for serious offences. The court has to deal with many knife crimes. It has an impact on the entire country. There is far too much of it. Much of it concerns youths. You are not a youth. You are 43. You are a family man of good character. It beggars belief really, what you were doing.
"I suspect that you cannot really understand what you were doing yourself. Wherever or whenever you got it, that night, you had it in your clenched hand as you left the leisure centre. You can see young people walking in and out of that leisure centre, and you have got a blade in your hand, unbelievably. You went, at least, to a quiet area away from those children.
"You and Mr Kent went to resolve a straightener, two grown men. But you took a blade. That, of course, makes the seriousness of this so much worse. You did not cause a very serious injury. It is relatively superficial. It was a highly dangerous weapon. I bear in mind that the purposes of sentencing include deterrent, as well as punishment and rehabilitation.
"That is important with knife crime, because it is far too prevalent and needs to be deterred. That sentence has to be immediate. The message has to got out that you simply cannot take a blade out to resolve an argument, whether you are a child or an adult. People really need to learn that you cannot take a blade out and use a blade on people without going into custody."