A heroin and crack dealer who first got an Asbo aged 10 was stabbed 27 times after trying to take over a drugs ring. Alfie Hodgin, now 18, was found with more than £2,000 of heroin and crack cocaine while "slumped on the floor covered in blood".
As reported by the Liverpool Echo, the retribution attack came after Hodgin stole drugs and a 'graft' phone from a county lines ring he previously worked for. A gang of four men set upon him with machetes in a street in Ellesmere Port town centre in Cheshire.
When found in a pool of his own blood, officers also discovered £1,220 worth of heroin and £1,100 of crack cocaine as well as £1,208 and the 'graft' phone - a dedicated deal line mobile. Following the July attack, he spent two weeks in hospital, recovering from his injuries.
He was discharged but immediately arrested. Hodgin, of Manor Road in Liscard, later admitted possession of heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.
Hodgin's involvement in crime began at an alarming age. In December 2014, when he was only 10, he was handed an Asbo at Wirral Magistrates' Court after "terrorising the community". He was first jailed in 2019 for possession of a bladed article in a public place, then received further time behind bars in 2021 after being caught with drugs, a phone and a "couple of weapons" in his prison cell.
Defence counsel John Weate told Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday: "The defendant accepts that originally he was put to work. However, he reneged on that and he effectively told the people who were originally in charge what to do with themselves.
"He then took control of the graft phone and he took control of the supply. If ever there was a case which demonstrates, when people fall into debt, the types of threats that they operate under.
"As a consequence of that and going into the business himself, he was attacked by four men with machetes and suffered 27 stab wounds - suffering significant injuries which resulted in him being in hospital for a period of two weeks."
Judge Stuart Driver QC said at this point: "He, in effect, stole the phone and the drugs and began to deploy them by selling for his own profit. The violence that befell him was in retribution for that crime."
Mr Weate replied: "That is the top and bottom of it. It is frightening to see how serious the trade of class A drugs is and the consequences for people who involve themselves in it on the streets in our country and in our area.
"Quite easily, this defendant could have been murdered as a consequence of this savage attack he suffered. Thankfully, the defendant recovered from that."
Mr Weate said Hodgin's main mitigation was his age and his background. "He had had an appalling start in life," he said.
"From a very young age, probably in his infancy, he has been subjected to living in a violent and criminal environment and a complete mistrust has developed within him of adults and people who may on the face of it be looking to help him.
"Everything has been disrupted by this life experience, which thankfully the vast majority of children don't have to experience. His education was completely and utterly disrupted through bad behaviour and through other issues which existed in his life.
"The glimmer of hope is a suggestion he wants to change. He seems determined to get a grip of his life and to do his level best in the future to make sure he doesn't find himself in this position again."
Hodgin was locked up for two and a half years. He must also pay a victim surcharge, while forfeiture of the drugs and phone was ordered.
