Every week, judges at Bristol Crown Court sentence people for crimes involving knives. People are dying due to the carrying of blades and campaigners have long called for a clampdown on knife crime.
Bristol Live reports on cases and some of the key benefits of open justice include ensuring public confidence and respect in democracy and the administration of justice. It also serves to deter people from committing crimes and thereby the details of those crimes becoming public knowledge.
Here are the knife offenders who have been jailed from November 2022 to April 2023. You can read more about why we publish defendants' names and addresses here.
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Brikel Palaj, Radian Lika and co, 45 years-plus
Four men were jailed for more than 45 years after 32-year-old Aranit Lleshi was stabbed to death in Brislington in a knife fight over a cannabis crop in May last year. Police declared a 'critical incident' at the time after being called to the Bloomfield Road area.
Four men were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court after being convicted in connection with the incident.
They were:
Brikel Palaj, 33, of Heavitree Road, Plumstead, London (convicted of murder, life with minimum 20 years)
Radian Lika, 36, of Watkinson Court, Islington, London (convicted of murder, life with minimum 20 years )
Nikola Palaj, 29, also of Heavitree Road (convicted of manslaughter, five years)
Kastriot Mhillaj, 35, of no fixed abode (pleaded guilty to violent disorder, 18 weeks)
Read the full story here.
Joshua Delbono, life
A man was given a life sentence after being convicted of the murder of 16-year-old Charley Bates in Radstock last summer.
Appearing at Bristol Crown Court, Joshua Delbono, 19, was found unanimously guilty of killing the boy on Sunday, July 31, 2022. Charley was fatally wounded by Delbono in a public car park, off The Street, in the centre of Radstock.
Delbono will serve a minimum of 21 years in prison.
Read the full story here.
James Moore, extended sentence of nine years
A remand prisoner attacked his sleeping cellmate with sugared boiling water and razorblades. And it was all because he didn't want to share the room.
James Moore was on remand at HMP Bristol after being charged with a knife attack. He warned staff he didn't want to share his cell, but Craig Doel was sent in to join him.
After the pair chatted and watched TV, Mr Doel went to sleep. He was awakened by the feeling of his face "on fire", and found Moore had thrown sugared boiling water over him and was slashing at his arms and legs with two razorblades melted into a toothbrush handle.
Bristol Crown Court heard Mr Doel fended off Moore with a chair and pressed a panic button. First staff on the scene were unable to get the cell door open but more staff arrived and intervened.
Read the full story here.
Lee Coles, 30 months and two weeks
Stabbing a sleeping man in the face cost a man a prison sentence - and his victim pain and trauma. Lee Coles claimed to have a gripe with the man which motivated the attack.
Bristol Crown Court heard the complainant suffered a wound to his lower jaw as well an internal injury extending up his face. He said he was left anxious, feeling he could be attacked at any time and no longer felt safe.
Coles, 41, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding after the attack in December 2019. He also admitted possessing a blade and assaulting two emergency workers.
The recorder Ms Emma Zeb jailed him for 30 months and two weeks.
Read the full story here.
Colin Proud, three years
Pensioner Colin Proud was subjected to years of noise from his neighbour's flat, a court heard. And in August last year he confronted his neighbour with a large kitchen knife and stabbed him in the forehead and back.
Proud, 70, of Berchel House in Catherine Mead Street, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon. He appeared from HMP Bristol via video link for sentence at Bristol Crown Court.
The recorder Mr Oba Nsugbe jailed him for three years.
Read the full story here.
Robert Jenkins, two years
A man in the grip of drug addiction pilfered from Bath shops. And after being caught and taken to court he has been jailed.
Robert Jenkins admitted a spate of raids on premises from August last year in order to feed his habit. The 50-year-old, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two non-dwelling burglaries, two thefts and possessing a knife.
Judge Michael Cullum handed him a two-year prison sentence. The judge told him: "You have a long-standing Class A drug addiction.
"It is really sad to see that after a long gap in offending there was then this. The good thing is that you pleaded guilty to all matters."
Read the full story here.
Dawn Lewis, life with a minimum 20 years
A Somerset woman who stabbed her lodger to death was jailed for life. It has also emerged the victim had previously killed his wife in front of their two young sons.
Dawn Lewis, 54, was told she would serve a minimum of 20 years for stabbing Glenn Richards, 61, to death at her Glastonbury home. The former yoga teacher had previously claimed she acted in self-defence, but the jury rejected the claim.
The trial, held at Bristol Crown Court, heard 61-year-old Mr Richards moved to Somerset after being released from prison for killing his former wife Karen in 2011. Lewis wanted to evict him from her cottage as the pair would constantly argue.
Read the full story here.
Ionut-Valentin Boboc and Iacob-Bebe Chers, life with a minimum 76-and-a-half years
A pair of former abattoir workers convicted of murdering and butchering two men were both jailed for life. Iacob-Bebe Chers and Ionut-Valentin Boboc tricked their way into the Easton home of former workmate Denzil McKenzie, who was with visitor Fahad Hossain Pramanik.
They brutally stabbed both men and arranged their bodies in a scene of horror in Mr McKenzie's sitting room, Bristol Crown Court heard. Mr McKenzie had been stabbed 23 times, Mr Pramanik three times, and jurors heard the extent of their injuries and how their bodies had been left on "macabre display".
Boboc, 22, of Abingdon Road in Hillfields, pleaded guilty to murdering Mr McKenzie but denied murdering Mr Pramanik in September last year. Chers, 46, of Whitefield, Hillfields denied both murder charges. A jury at Bristol Crown Court convicted them both of the murder charges they denied
Read the full story here.
Stefan Poyster, eight months
A Filton man declined a drugs prescription told a health centre receptionist: "You will need to call armed police here in a bit." Stefan Poyster was seen to have a blade when he waited at a hatch window to speak to staff at the Homeless Health Service in Jamaica Street.
When told his methadone script would be sent to his allocated pharmacy he made the threat and left. Police found him in a nearby park, and a knife nearby.
Poyster, 34, of Seventh Avenue, pleaded guilty to possessing a blade. He appeared for sentence at Bristol Crown Court.
Judge Mark Horton jailed him for eight months and told him to pay a £156 victim surcharge. He told Poyster: "In carrying a knife as you do the clear inference is you represent a danger to the public."
Read the full story here.
William Warrington (indefinite hospital order)
A man was indefinitely detained after admitting killing his parents. William Warrington, 42, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility on Tuesday morning.
Warrington, of St George's Street in Cheltenham, admitted to stabbing his father Clive, 67, and his mother Valerie, 73, hours apart at their home on March 2 this year. He has been made the subject of a hospital order without limit of time under Section 37 and 41 of the Mental Health Act, after admitting to the manslaughter of his parents by reason of diminished responsibility.
Read the full story here.
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