Father hopes eight-year sentence following Royton Park attack will act as a deterrent

Date published: 14 November 2018


The father of a teenager stabbed in Royton Park hopes the eight-year sentence handed down to Joshua Tindal’s attacker will act as a warning to those walking the streets with knives.

It was in February when Joshua, who is now 20 and a trainee stonemason, went to Royton Park for what he believed was going to be a fist fight with Garyn Allen, from Bardsley.

However, Joshua was stabbed eight times by Allen.

He suffered a collapsed lung in the attack, and Joshua’s father Mark believes his son's life was saved thanks to the quick action of an off-duty nurse who ran to the scene.

Mark has welcomed the sentence handed out by Judge Mark Savill at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.

Mark said: "It's not rocket science, if you carry a knife, you are giving yourself the option to use it.

“If eight years does not send out a deterrent, I don't know what does.

"I am pleased with the sentence and in my opinion Allen is lucky he was not facing an attempted murder charge.

“The police wanted to pursue that charge, but attempted murder is very hard to prove.

"The incident was caught on CCTV and lasted about 30 seconds.

“Josh thought it was a fist fight, but only later realised he had been stabbed and collapsed.

"It was a pre-arranged fight. Allen was a stupid boy to carry a knife - but he could have killed my son.

"My son must learn from this too.

“He knows he should defend himself, but look what happened.

"Friends who were with Josh ran after Allen who went to a house where he thought a friend was after the stabbing. There was a nurse at the property.

“Josh's friends told her Allen had stabbed him. She grabbed a bag and ran to where Josh was.

"His friends, with the best of intentions were planning to drive him to Oldham hospital.

“But as soon as the nurse examined she could tell he had a collapsed lung and insisted that he should not be moved - that could well have saved his life."

Josh had gone to Royton Park in the early evening of February 18 this year to meet Allen.

"He thought he was going to a fist fight as a friend was being bullied and he went to sort it out," added Mark.

Both Josh and Allen had a phone conversation the day before when they had arranged to meet to resolve a dispute over a small debt his friend had with Allen.

Josh turned up with a few friends and fought with Allen who then ran off.

Moments later Josh felt dizzy and realised he had been knifed.

Mark said: "He had been stabbed up his side three times, three times in his leg, in his arm, and he suffered a collapsed lung from another wound.

“A folding lock-knife was used."

Allen, aged 19, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding at a pretrial hearing in March.

But he went to trial on charges of wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon.

He was found guilty of both charges by a jury.

After initially spending five days in hospital, Joshua has now made a full recovery from the attack, apart from a few visible scars.


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