Huthwaite brothers jailed for ‘revenge’ attack

Daniel Edwards (21) and Adam Edwards (22), of Chesterfield Road, were involved in an affray outside a house on Oakland Avenue that happened in December last year and in which a man was stabbed five times.

Both brothers had pleaded guilty to a charge of affray at Nottingham Crown Court, while Daniel had also pleaded guilty to the more serious charge of wounding with intent after admitting knifing 21-year-old Connell Mercer.

They were sentenced earlier today (Thursday 17th April), with Daniel being jailed for 64 months - just over five years - and Adam for 12 months.

The court was told that the affray took place outside the family home of Darren Allsop, with whom Adam Edwards had been involved in a fight in a pub on the night of 7th December.

A scuffle had broken out on the dancefloor after Mr Allsop’s hat was taken off his head by Adam and punches were subsequently thrown by both sides.

After returning home, Mr Allsop, his wife Paula, daughter Lucy and her boyfriend Connell Mercer were woken in the early hours of 8th December by someone banging on the doors and windows of their house and threatening to kill them.

Looking outside they saw four men, two of whom were wearing scarves covering their faces and whom they recognised as Adam and Daniel Edwards.

Fearful that they would get into the house, Mr Allsop went outside with Mr Mercer, who armed himself with an iron.

Prosecution barrister Tina Dempster said that a ‘fairly chaotic free-for-all’ ensued, with blows being exchanged.

Mr Mercer and Daniel Edwards fought. Mr Mercer threw the iron at him and was wrestled to the ground.

As they were rolling on the floor, Mr Mercer was stabbed five times but only realised this when his girlfriend started screaming at the sight of blood.

Paula Allsop then tried to pull Daniel off Mr Mercer and was punched in the face by the defendant.

Emergency services were called and Mr Mercer was taken to hospital with stab wounds to the back, left flank and left thigh.

None of these were deep enough to cause substantial damage.

Later the same day Adam Edwards surrendered himself to the police while Daniel was arrested at his home address.

Defending Daniel Edwards, Michael Evans QC said that he had not taken the knife with him to inflict injury and only used it after having the iron thrown at him.

He has also shown remorse for his actions.

Mr Evans said that Daniel is a man who works hard and ‘there are parts of him extremely worthy of praise’, such as when he was commended by the court last year for helping catch and bring to justice the people who robbed a handbag from an elderly lady at a bus stop.

He had however been given a community order for a different offence just three days before this incident happened.

Defending Adam Edwards, Bobby Egbuna said that though he has been in custody before, the time spent in prison for this incident had been a ‘rude awakening’ for Adam, who has a young son and whose partner is currently pregnant.

Passing sentence, Recorder S. Thomas gave both brothers full credit for their early guilty pleas.

Addressing Daniel, he said he also took into consideration that the injuries caused to Mr Mercer, though ‘serious and appalling’, ‘were not as bad as they could have been’, though he noted that more than a single stab wound had been inflicted.

However, he said that these matters are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified, with the aggravating factor of the case being that the offence took place at someone else’s home when a family had been in bed.

He said that is was an act of ‘retribution’ that Adam had recruited his brother to following an earlier grievance.

Recorder Thomas described the affray as ‘a disgraceful incident in itself’ but was one that Daniel took further when he produced and used a knife, before then punching a woman.

It was ‘an attack motivated by revenge and fuelled by alcohol’, he concluded.

Daniel Edwards was sentenced to 64 months imprisonment for the wounding offence and 12 months for the affray, to run concurrently.

There was no further penalty for breaching his community order.

Adam Edwards was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for the affray.