A former warehouse worker drove a knifeman away from the scene of a brutal stabbing and hid his coat for him in a bid to thwart investigators.
Nathan Corlett, 26, of Wellingford Avenue, Widnes, appeared for sentence at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty to one count of assisting an offender over the events of the night of December 19, 2021. Henry Riding, prosecuting, said it was around 1am on December 20 when Corlett drove from Widnes to Warrington on request to pick up Lee Ashton - who only just over an hour earlier had knifed Robert Bassnett, who was in a relationship with Ashton's ex-partner.
The attack left Mr Bassnett staggering in search of help with the blade still stuck in his back and found collapsed in the road by a passing ambulance - potentially saving his life. Mr Riding said Corlett dropped off Ashton at the Holiday Inn, Runcorn, then took a bag containing Ashton’s coat and possibly other clothes that might have provided vital forensic clues such as DNA and hid them behind bins at another associate’s address.
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The efforts weren’t enough to foil the police, who collected footage from automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras showing Corlett’s car driving to Warrington and Runcorn, in addition to phone evidence.
Mr Riding said phone messages in the days after the stabbing implicated Corlett over his role, and showed how there was a row about how the coat was disposed of, and also an internet link for a newspaper article about the attack.
One of the messages said: “Bro I should have burned it, you’ve roped me in on a charge.”
Another said “I’ll grab it when this has all blown over”, and another example said: “F***ing risking a charge, I’ve done you a favour getting rid of them”.
Other messages suggested the bag of clothes had been thrown in the river, causing Ashton to “complain it had cost £200” in reference to his coat, before Corlett “confessed to Mr Ashton he had placed the items behind a bin at someone else’s address”
Corlett was also in telephone contact with Mr Bassnett because he “was a friend of both sides of that incident”.
After his arrest, in police interview on April 8 last year, Corlett initially denied his involvement, but then admitted his role after being confronted with the ANPR footage.
Corlett said he agreed to take Ashton to a hotel and claimed it was only after Ashton took off his coat, bagged it and told him to “keep it” that he “panicked and realised something must have been illegal”, claiming he had taken them to Pickerings Pasture nature reserve on the banks of the River Mersey in Widnes.
Mr Rider said the Crown didn’t accept the claims and there was no basis of plea. The coat was never found by investigators.
Corlett had one previous conviction for a driving matter that occurred after December 2021, plus a caution for threatening behaviour from 2020.
He later pleaded guilty to one count of assisting an offender over helping Ashton.
Lloyd Morgan, defending, pleaded mitigation for father-of-two Corlett’s guilty plea and “remorse”, and argued Corlett was a “young man” who was suitable for a suspended sentence due to his “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”, responsibilities as a father of two with weekend custody and daily contact, and having previously been in employment and now only out of work due to “stress and anxiety”.
He said Corlett was also in a stable relationship.
Mr Morgan said the car that was subject of his conviction for aggravated vehicle taking belonged to Corlett's father.
Citing the absence of further offending, Mr Morgan said Corlett had “learned his lesson”, adding: “He never wishes to darken the doors of the court again.”
Judge David Potter, who previously dealt with Ashton in court, sentenced Corlett to 12 months in prison to be served immediately.
Recounting the attack by Ashton on Mr Bassnett, he said: “Robert Bassnett was walking from his friend’s house in Warrington when he was set upon by a group of at least three men, who lay in wait for Mr Bassnett and were all armed with knives.
“Mr Bassnett was chased from the initial confrontation onto the main road where he ran literally for his life.
“The attacking group caught up with him and during the course of the attack which followed he was stabbed in the back.”
He added: “He ran away with the knife still sticking in his back.”
Mr Bassnett collapsed on a road where the second vehicle to pass happened to be an ambulance, and he received first aid before being taken to hospital and “was very fortunate to survive”.
Ashton spent "several hours" at the hotel after being picked up and dropped off.
Judge Potter said that although there was other evidence against Lee Ashton, Corlett hiding the coat had caused a “delay” in “bringing Lee Ashton to justice”.
The ECHO reported last August how Ashton, 23, of Elston Avenue, Newton-le-Willows, was convicted of wounding at trial and sent down for eight years following a crime spree that also included stealing firearms in a burglary and robbing a cyclist at gunpoint.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the assault on Mr Bassnett was rooted in jealousy as he was in a relationship with Ashton’s ex-partner.
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