Shrewsbury knife attack man also dealt in drugs

Paul Crossland was found in possession of quantities of cocaine and heroin when he was arrested in Shrewsbury in November last year.

At the time he was addicted to cocaine and had been living in a tent and had also been sleeping on the streets.

At Stafford Crown Court on Wednesday, Crossland was sentenced to two years in a Young Offenders Institution having admitted two offences of possession of drugs with intent to supply.

Judge Michael Chambers QC said he had taken into account that Crossland was already serving a 54-month sentence for the wounding offence.

He said it would not be in the interests of justice for the sentence for the drugs offences to run consecutively to the defendant's present period of custody.

Crossland appeared on a video link from Brinsford Young Offenders Institution when the court was told the drugs were discovered by officers when the defendant was arrested on November 17 last year.

It followed an incident in Meole Brace two days earlier when a man was stabbed three times with a kitchen knife during a violent struggle outside a Shrewsbury block of flats.

The 19-year-old victim, Dean Flynn, was left bleeding heavily from a neck wound in Stapleton Road in the early hours of November 15 after a dispute involving Crossland and others who lived at different blocks of flats in the area.

At a hearing in May this year Crossland denied a charge of attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to wounding with intent, and was given 54 months in custody.

The court heard that Mr Flynn could have lost his life and the incident happened only weeks after Crossland had been cautioned for carrying a knife.

The court heard that Crossland, who is originally from Merseyside, had had a troubled childhood.