Presthaven Sands,Gronant,North Wales - Man is jailed for knife attack at Flintshire holiday park

Published date: 03 November 2015 | 

Published by: Staff reporter
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A MAN has been jailed for a brutal stabbing at a Flintshire holiday park.

Ryan Williams, 21, was staying at Presthaven Sands in Gronant when he viciously attacked John Paul Gourlay.

 

Williams, from London, wrongfully believed Mr Gourlay had made racist remarks towards him, resulting in him stabbing his victim three times – once in the face, once in the back, and also in the buttocks.

 

A weapon has never been recovered – but it was believed the clean cuts caused were consistent with that of a knife.

 

The attack happened in the early hours of July 29, 2013 and Williams was convicted at a trial last month. He was sentenced yesterday at at Mold Crown Court, sitting at Chester.

 

Sentencing him to four-and-a-half years in prison, judge Niclas Parry told Williams he had “clearly intended to cause more harm” than he did.

 

“You carried out a sustained and repeated attack and stabbed your victim three times,” he said.

 

“This happened in the early hours in a place where there were a lot of people, including children.

 

“And quite disgraceful because of the untruthful allegation that he had racially abused you.”

 

David Mainstone, prosecuting, read out a victim impact statement made by Mr Gourlay.

 

He said he now struggles to sleep and wakes up in sweats following nightmares of the attack.

 

He has to live with a scar on his face, saying it’s as if people now see him “as some sort of thug”.

 

He said he has lost friends since the attack because he hardly goes out any more, and said it has completely “drained his confidence”.

 

Anna Price, defending, said Williams was a young man growing up in an area of London that when you went out “you had to carry a knife, because if you didn’t, one might be used on you”.

 

She told the court that Williams was a young man who had been “trying to do the right thing since the offence”.

 

The court heard he had since started up a relationship and was expecting a baby, but that the relationship was in jeopardy following his conviction.

 

Following the case, DI Lee Boycott said: “North Wales Police welcomes the court’s sentence for this nasty, vicious assault.”