Prison for Matlock brothers after two knife attacks

Harry Stones, 20, and his brother Thomas, 18 – both of whom lived in Jackson Tor Road, Matlock – were told by a judge at Derby Crown Court that someone could have been stabbed to death during the incidents last year.

The first incident took place in Hall Leys Park when Harry Stones pulled a knife out of his trousers when challenged to a fight.

When the man stumbled backwards, Harry was seen ‘lunging at him’ before running off with his brother on August 3.

Alex Wolfson, prosecuting, said a week after the first incident, Thomas Stone pulled a knife on a man who pinning him against a garden shed.

The man was stabbed twice, once in the chest and then in the abdomen. He needed eight stitches and was kept in hospital overnight.

Harry Stones pleaded guilty to affray and being in possession of a bladed article. Thomas Stones pleaded guilty to wounding and affray

Judge Jonathan Gosling said: “Anybody who takes up a knife and uses it in that way has to receive a custodial sentence.”

Speaking directly to Thomas Stones, he said: “I know you were pinned against a wall at the time. I know trouble came to you in numbers but you knew what you were about.

“You were lucky you didn’t kill him. You could easily have done,”

Referring to the Hall Leys incident, the judge added: “It would have been terrifying for people in the park during daylight who happened to be there.”

David Webster, defending Thomas Stones, said he was ‘a minor player’ in the first incident and was on bail at the time of the second one.

He said: “It is a sad lesson of what happens when groups – I stop short of calling them gangs – of young men fall into dispute.”

The second incident took place when the other group came to the ‘Stones territory’ and were initially repelled before returning.

Mr Webster described the stabbed man as ‘no stranger to the criminal justice system’.

Joe Harvey, defending Harry Stones, said the first incident appeared to have arisen from a disagreement over a girlfriend.

He said Harry had spent five months in custody awaiting sentence and had ‘thought about what he wants out of life’.

Mr Harvey said the defendant regretted losing contact with his 18–month–old daughter.

He added: “He has very little recollection of what his daughter looks like and there has been a significant impact on his family.”

Harry Stones was sentenced to 18 months in prison while his brother Thomas was sentenced to two years in prison.