‘City gent’ prowler’s vice girl horror attack

ATTACKER . . . Matthew Graham

A ‘’city gent’’ office worker prowled a red light district before he drove a seven-inch kitchen knife into the neck of a vice girl.

Rochdale CCTV images captured Matthew Graham (29) pacing a popular spot for prostitutes at dusk while high on cannabis in the run-up to his attack on the 30-year-old victim.

After asking if she was “interested in business”, he told her to meet him under a nearby bridge. But when she turned the corner he hit her head against a wall, pulled out a serrated kitchen knife and plunged it through her neck from one side to the other, said Rob Hall, prosecuting, at Manchester Crown Court

Graham, of Royton, attacked the woman with such ferocity the handle of the knife snapped off, leaving the blade lodged in her neck. Passers-by intervened and Graham ran off.

The woman was taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary where the blade was removed. She is set to make a full recovery following the attack in May 2014.

Inquiries revealed the attack had been triggered by Graham’s abuse of cannabis. Graham was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order under the Mental Health Act for the public’s protection after pleading guilty to attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon.

The court heard Graham suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and often experienced violent fantasies about hurting people. It was claimed his condition was made much worse by his use of cannabis around the time of the attack.

Graham was snared when police linked him to the knife using DNA. Psychiatrist Dr Andrew Haddock said Graham was ‘”slowly responding” to treatment for his schizophrenia at the medium-secure Edenfield mental health unit in Prestwich.

Mark Fireman, defending, said Graham was deeply remorseful. “He knows he requires treatment and wishes to become well as soon as possible,” he added.

Judge Michael Henshell said: “You now realise that it was a terrible thing you committed and the harm caused could have been so much greater. The woman was fortunate to survive.”