Formby grandfather jailed for stabbing two men on a night out in the Village

Eric Woodward, 55, of Smithy Green, Formby attacked a group of visitors on Chapel Lane in Formby Village.

A disabled grandfather threatened four men with a walking stick shortly before stabbing one in the buttock and the second man twice in the stomach.

Eric Woodward, 55, claimed he was mocked by the group outside in Formby, at approximately 02:20am on September 21 last year.

Police were called to the scene and logged assaults with a walking stick and stab wounds to the abdomen on one man and a single stab wound to the buttock on a second man.

Woodward denied having a blade and offered the theory that someone else must have intervened during the incident, which was only partially captured on CCTV cameras.

However, his court case at Liverpool crown court found him guilty of wounding with intent, assault causing actual bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon ( a pocket knife ) and jailed him for five years.

Woodward has been imprisoned previously for three years for wounding with intent in 1982.

The court was told that the four friends, visiting from Durham to play golf and watch a rugby match, left the bar to get a taxi back to their hotels but became involved in a row with Woodward.

Recorder Rowena Goode, the presiding Judge, said it was very clear that Woodward raised his walking stick in the air and Simon Kirkup, one of the visiting men, took it from him.

She added: “You initially appeared to have calmed down but when the stick was returned to you, you immediately raised it in the air in an aggressive way.

When Mr Kirkup again tried to remove it you clearly, on the jury’s verdict, produced a knife from your pocket and you stabbed him in the buttock.”

She went on to say that Woodward struck out at John Hetherington with the said walking stick and then restrained him by taking him to the ground.

Woodward then stabbed him twice in the stomach and got up and walked away, resulting in his victim bleeding profoundly from two wounds, the larger of which needed 13 stitches. The victim, who thought he would bleed to death, has been left with a permanent scar.

Brendan Carville, the defending legal representative, said his client was attacked 20 years ago and suffered cranial nerve damage, which affected his balance, hearing and sight and would find any prison sentence extremely difficult.

Recorder Goode said she had had a letter from Woodward's daughter, setting out that he was a loving dad and grandad.

She also said that his previous conviction was a very long time ago and not a significant factor.

However, she said he was in court for harassment in March 2015, which “perhaps is another example of some disturbance in your thinking at the time”.

After sentencing him to a five year jail term the Judge added: “Quite what pre-empted what happened is not entirely clear. There is evidence that there was some sort of banter, possibly about your appearance or your dress. You were acting in a somewhat strange and erratic manner and what followed may well have been caused by a combination of the two factors.”

At the end of the proceedings Woodward asked to exercise his “freedom of speech”.

He told the judge: “As far as I’m concerned I’m still an innocent man. I don’t hold anything against you personally, but the case was so silly, four men telling different stories.”

Woodward said he was unhappy with his legal representation and should not have been found guilty.

He said “Take care, I love you all” to family members seated in the public gallery, before a woman shouted “He did f*** all wrong. Stupid b****” and stormed out.