Colne thief jailed for stabbing bicycle owner (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Colne thief jailed for stabbing bicycle owner

11:11am Wednesday 25th January 2012 in Colne

A WOMAN stabbed a man in the street after he spotted her pushing his stolen bicycle.

Claire Gregory, 29, was jailed for 18 months after the court heard she plunged a knife into Anthony Smith’s hip when he raised the alarm.

Gregory, who had had a cocktail of cider and ecstasy, told the victim she was going to sell the pedal cycle for drugs, and then lunged at him.

Mr Smith felt a sharp pain and was left bleeding heavily.

He was later to tell police he had feared for his life during the assault, in Nelson last August, and had thought Gregory was aiming at his chest.

The defendant, of Gibfield Road, Colne, admitted theft, possessing an offensive weapon, wounding, and damage. David Macro, prosecuting, said Gregory took the cycle from a back yard.

A few days later, Mr Smith came out of his house to go on his motorbike and saw Gregory pushing his cycle.

He asked her: “Where are you going with that? Can I have it back, please ?”

The defendant replied; “I don’t think so. I am going to get some drugs for it.”

Mr Smith told Gregory she wasn’t, at which point she “flipped”, began screaming and shouting, and threw the motorcycle down. Gregory then lunged at Mr Smith and stabbed him in the left thigh/hip area with a six-inch blade.

Laura Barbour, for Gregory, said she had significant mental health problems and was on medication. She had taken cider and ecstasy.

Since the defendant had been in custody, she had undergone short courses to address drugs and alcohol misuse.

Miss Barbour added: “She was a young woman really not in her right mind.”

Sentencing, Judge Beverley Lunt told Gregory what she had done was very dangerous.