Boots customers witness horrific knife attack in pharmacy queue

James Smith, 29, reacted with extreme violence when he was slapped by the victim for making a deeply offensive comment about the man's dead partner.

The man he attacked - a former friend with whom he had once lived – suffered stab wounds to his face, his armpit and his hip, Carlisle Crown Court heard. The defendant, of Collinfield, Kendal, admitted wounding.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson outlined the background.

He told the court that the defendant and his victim had become friends after they met at college while studying engineering some eleven years ago. The man – older than Smith – felt the defendant “looked up to him.”

They drifted apart after leaving college but then bumped into each other by chance in October, 2022, in Kendal town centre. “Mr Smith indicated that he was having problems with his address,” said Mr Rogerson.

Smith has been jailed (Image: Cumbria Police)

As a result of this, the other man said he lived in a large house and offered to let Smith stay there in return for rent. But the relationship “weakened” because after some time Smith was failing to pay the rent, said Mr Rogerson.

“Mr Smith flatly refused to pay,” said the prosecutor. “He said there was nothing he could do and left the address.”

The next time the two men met was as they queued at the Kendal town centre branch of Boots in Stricklandgate on the afternoon of January 18, the court heard. They began chatting, initially as if nothing had happened but then the other man mentioned that Smith still owed rent.

“Mr Smith turned round and told him that he didn’t owe anything and he’d get nothing from him,” said Mr Rogerson. Smith then made an offensive comment about the other man’s late partner, who died in a car crash.

James Smith (left) wields the knife (Image: Cumbria Police)

It was at this point that the man slapped Smith. His response was to take a small knife from his pocket and attack the man, stabbing him three times.

CCTV pictures of the attack show Smith grabbing the victim in a headlock as he attempted to drag him to the floor. As the man broke free and tried to walk away, Smith pursued him, producing what detectives say was a "flick knife" from his pocket, which he opened before lunging with at the man.

Smith swung the knife six times towards the man’s hip, chest and face. Three of the stabbing blows connected – one to his hip, one to his back close to his shoulder and another to his cheek.

Witnesses head the victim – by this time bleeding – yell: “He’s stabbed me.” There was a lot of blood. Two people who saw Smith described him “smirking” as he walked away.

He remained in the shop until the police arrived.

In a victim impact statement, the victim said he felt "lucky to be alive". Thankfully, the knife had not damaged any vital organs but he needed plastic surgery to repair the wound to his face.

Already suffering from PTSD following the death of his partner, he said he had been stabbed by somebody he had once considered to be a friend.

His body was slowly healing but he had suffered a great deal of pain and struggled to sleep. “I see the incident clearly in my mind whenever I close my mind,” he said.

James Smith after the attack (Image: Cumbria Police)

He  also found it hard to trust people and he needed support whenever he left his flat.

Janet Ironfield, for Smith, who has no similar previous convictions, said he had written a letter to the victim, expressing his genuine remorse.

His parents, who had visited him regularly while he was remanded in prison, had now detected a change in their son’s attitudes. At the time of the offence, said the barrister, somebody had taken Smith’s supply of the heroin substitute methadone.

That explained why he was unable to resist the impulse to pull the knife from his pocket. But while in jail, he had worked to address his addictions.

Judge Richard Archer suggested that the explanation for the offence – stabbing a man in Boots in broad daylight – was probably the result of heroin and alcohol and the defendant’s addiction to those intoxicating substances.

It was those addictions that allowed him to reconcile the fact that an articulate and intelligent young man had committed such an offence, said the judge.

The CCTV images shows Smith stabbing his victim in “cold blood” said the judge.

Judge Archer said: “It is perhaps merciful that you are not being sentenced today for murder.”

The case also served as a useful reminder to society of the dangers of carrying knifes, though the judge noted the defence submission that the blade involved was an inch shorter than the three inches which would have made it illegal to possess in public.

The judge noted also that Smith had reacted after being slapped, in circumstances which the victim no doubt felt were justified. “Thankfully for you, his injuries are not grave,” said the judge. “He has required plastic surgery.”

He jailed the defendant for three years and nine months.

After the case concluded today, Acting Detective Inspector Lee Brumpton said: “Any assault involving a knife has the potential to end in tragedy and loss of life. This violent, senseless attack could easily have resulted in death of the victim and Smith standing in court charged with murder.

“Cumbria is one of the safest places in the country to live and to work and there is absolutely no justification for someone deciding to leave their home whilst armed with a weapon.

“I would like to thank all who responded to the incident calmly and quickly, resulting in the victim receiving immediate medical care and the offender being swiftly arrested within minutes of the attack, including the paramedics, the staff at Boots and the customers inside the store, as well as the police officers who not only apprehended Smith but also administered first aid at the scene.”