A 20-year-old who hit a shopkeeper over the head with a golf club and stabbed a shopping centre security guard has been sentenced to nearly five years in jail.
Luke McSharry, who had a long history of offending, took part in a ‘frenzied attack’ on Middleton Shopping Centre security guard, Paul McLaughlin, on August 14 last year. The week before McSharry had made threats to Mr McLaughlin saying he would “stab you up”.
On the 14th McSharry saw Mr McLaughlin again, becoming abusive and calling him a ‘fat c**t’ and again that he would ‘cut him up’. Mr McLaughlin took hold of him and there was a ‘scuffle’, according to prosecutor Hugh McKee at Manchester Minshull Street Court.
“Within a short space of time he cut him five times”, Mr McKee added, before he ran away from the centre. McSharry was seen throwing something in a bush, which police later discovered to be the knife he had used in the attack.
McSharry, 19 at the time, was arrested on August 25 in Glossop, Derbyshire, where he was living in a tent in woodland. Officers also discovered a knife and an axe in the tent when he was arrested.
Mr McLaughlin suffered ‘multiple stab wounds’, the most serious being one to the forearm which sliced a tendon. However, none of the injuries were life threatening.
Another incident McSharry was charged with occurred on April 25 2020, when he was 18-years-old. A group of boys took a box of Carlsberg lager from a shop on Cross Lane, Radcliffe, with the shop owner chasing after them.
McSharry was spotted amongst the group by the owner. Later that evening the owner and a friend drove around the area looking for the group before coming across them on nearby Park Street drinking outside the property.
The two men approached the boys with two running away. However, McSharry swung a golf club at the shop owner and hit him on the forehead.
“He continued to hit him on the head then put the golf club inside and ran off,” Mr McKee said, “the owner was left shocked and went back to the shop and phoned the police and paramedics.” A cut on his head had to be put together with glue with McSharry arrested on May 7 2020.
Defending McSharry, Mr Gilmore, described this as a “sad case”. He said McSharry was not involved in the robbery on April 25 2020 and that he should not have reacted violently when confronted by the shop owner. He pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm (ABH) in this case.
Mr Gilmore described the shopping centre incident as ‘entirely senseless’ and that McSharry was a ‘habitual’ knife carrier. The attack on the security guard is said to have lasted only ten seconds and didn’t result in life threatening injuries.
But judge Paul Lawton said it didn’t result in life threatening injuries for Mr McLaughlin ‘all by good fortune’. Mr Gilmore conceded it “could have been more serious if he was less fortunate”.
McSharry’s upbringing was described as ‘dysfunctional as one can imagine’ having moved house 15 times by the age of 10. His mother also died at a young age.
“It’s not an excuse but maybe an explanation to why a young man reacts violently and why he feels the need to carry a knife,” Mr Gilmore said. Concerns over his mental health had been raised at the time of the stabbing, however, no diagnosable disorder was found.
Sentencing McSharry, judge Lawton, said: “You are a young man who habitually carries a knife so I accept you didn’t specifically go out for revenge. When you saw him (security guard) you said you would ‘cut him up’ and when he grabbed you you lashed out with a knife.
“It was a frenzied assault on him causing him multiple stab wounds. You pose a high risk to the public for similar reoffending in the future.”
Judge Lawson referenced reports by Rochdale Social Services which described McSharry as ‘intelligent, and charismatic, and interested in his education’, and that he is ‘working hard to follow a different path’.
McSharry was sentenced to four years in jail for wounding with intent (GBH) at Middleton Shopping Centre last year with six months concurrently for possession of a knife. He was handed a consecutive sentence of eight months for actual bodily harm relating to the incident in Radcliffe on April 25, 2020.
