A woman bleached a knife that was used to stab her neighbour as part of a campaign to hinder a police investigation into the crime.
Lyndsey McNair also lied about the identities of men suspected of being involved in an attack on Daniel O’Brien near her home in Wallasey.
The 35-year-old was jailed yesterday - but two friends who helped her carry on the lie walked free from court.
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Ken Grant, prosecuting, said there appeared to be issues between McNair and Mr O’Brien in the run up to the incident that saw him attacked, though the details of this were not heard at Liverpool Crown Court.
McNair then held a party on June 11 2020 at her home on Edith Road, inviting a number of friends, including Georgina Harris, now 29, and Jermaine Booth, now 28. Mr O’Brien also attended for a period, as did a number of men.
However, hours later Mr O’Brien was brutally attacked by a group of men and stabbed twice outside close to his home. Those wounds, one to the neck and one to the chest, caused a range of devastating injuries including a collapsed lung.
McNair told police investigating the stabbing that she didn’t know the identity of the men who may be behind the attack and suggested they may be strangers. Booth and Harris parroted that line to officers as well, apparently on McNair’s instructions.
Yet later investigations by police indicated the men may have been at the party. Harris, and later Booth, admitted under questioning by police that their initial descriptions of the circumstances of the attack were a lie.
Later, McNair also admitted that she lied to cover up who may be behind the attack. She was also found to have bleached the knife, as well as having disposed of lager cans that might have contained the DNA of the suspected attackers.
A man was later charged with wounding with intent - but prosecutors offered no evidence on that charge earlier this year and a not guilty verdict was recorded. The court heard more charges are not likely to follow, meaning whoever stabbed Mr O’Brien is likely to go free.
Mr O’Brien spent a period in hospital because of the incident and later told the court it had left him anxious and fearful of going out. McNair, Booth and Harris all eventually pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and appeared for sentencing yesterday
Lawyers for Booth and Marsh said their involvement was limited, with both telling police the truth shortly after their initial lies. McNair insisted through her lawyer that she felt deeply sorry for what happened to Mr O’Brien and insisted what happened to him was not a “revenge attack”.
McNair, of Edith Road, was jailed for 15 months. Harris, of Kennelworth Road, and Booth, of Falkland Road, were handed six month jail terms suspended for 18 months.
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