Girl, 16, locked up for stabbing

Aug 16 2007 by Deborah James, Liverpool Daily Post

The concourse and platforms at Lime Street -in need of improvement (200)

A TEENAGE girl who stabbed another girl with a martial arts knife in Liverpool’s Lime Street station has been locked up for four years.

Liverpool Crown Court Judge Mark Brown said it was vital something was done about youths who carried knives.

The court heard Jessica Wooding, 16, was armed with a butterfly knife when she attacked her victim, who was 15.

The two girls had been fighting at Lime Street station on February 12 after a row in the toilets over somebody throwing a cigarette over a cubicle.

Simon Christie, prosecuting, told the court a witness saw Wooding with a knife and noticed she had slashed her victim.

The injured girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was taken to hospital.

She spent between four and five days there and had puncture wounds to her chest, back and leg and a collapsed lung.

As police led Wooding from the scene of the attack, a knife was spotted sticking out of her trousers.

Mr Christie told the court: “It is a vicious and lethal weapon, used solely in martial arts.”

Wooding, of Rutlands Way, Huyton, was convicted of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and had admitted possessing an offensive weapon and a small quantity of cannabis.

The court heard Wooding was just 14 when she was convicted of falsely imprisoning a schoolgirl and robbing her of a mobile phone and charity wristband.

David McLachlan, defending, said: “Nobody from her family appears in court today and that’s a trait that has followed her throughout her life. She has expressed remorse and regret.”

Detaining her for four years, Judge Brown said he did not accept that Wooding was genuinely sorry.

Wooding sobbed uncontrollably in the dock as the judge told her: “This is yet another illustration of the knife culture prevalent in society today, especially among young people.

“It is a culture involving the carrying and use of knives to cause death or serious harm and there is considerable public concern. Sadly, tragic events in other parts of the country have demonstrated that your actions are by no means unique.

“It is vital something is done about this appalling knife culture.”

Speaking outside court, Det Sgt Nigel Goodband, from British Transport Police, said: “This was a particularly nasty attack which was made all the more shocking by the fact that the victim and the offender were only 15 at the time.

“I hope that the sentence serves as a warning that BTP will not tolerate violence or knife crime.

“BTP continues to deploy mobile metal detectors at stations throughout the Merseyside area as part of Operation Shield, the campaign to eradicate knife crime on the railway network.”