A KNIFEMAN who nearly cycled into a 74-year-old man - then knocked him
out with a single “shocking” punch - has been jailed.
The pensioner spent two days in hospital with a bleed on the brain
following the attack outside Brown’s in York city centre as he was doing
his Christmas shopping.
A member of the public chased cyclist Oliver Duke Wharton down Davygate
and, with two off duty police officers and others, caught and restrained
him outside Debenhams.
Eyewitnesses told York Crown Court they heard someone say “He’s got a
knife” or “he’s dropped a knife” and saw a lock knife fall to the ground
close to where the 22-year-old was struggling.
Wharton, of The Gables, Holme Lane, Selby, who has previous convictions
for robbery and carrying a knife, pleaded guilty to causing actual
bodily harm. He denied carrying the lock knife in public but was
convicted unanimously by a jury.
Jailing him for 20 months, Judge Andrew Stubbs QC said about the punch
that felled the pensioner: “This was a deliberate blow. It hit him so
hard he was probably unconscious before he hit the ground
“Afterwards you scarpered and were only brought to book by the bravery
of the off duty officers and the member of the public who was so
disgusted by what you had done they gave chase.


http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/1629...hocking-punch/