This is the face of “laughing” thug Darren Blease-Maguire following his arrest for attacking a man in the street with a “panga” machete.
Liverpool Crown Court heard details of the “harrowing” incident when Blease-Maguire appeared via videolink last Thursday to be sentenced for affray, assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH), and having a blade in public. Trouble erupted on Frederick Street in Widnes on October 22 when Blease-Maguire and another man were seen “fighting with each other and swinging their arms at each other”.
Bernice Campbell, prosecuting, recounted how a terrified motorist stuck in traffic watched as Blease-Maguire and the other man tumbled to the ground, and she saw Blease-Maguire raise his arm before bringing it down - when she heard his victim “screaming”, which she described as “harrowing”. The injured man stood up, and fighting continued with jackets gripped in the men’s hands, and the witness saw Blease-Maguire “laughing”.
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The wounded man retreated to a barbershop and retrieved some blue paper for his “bleeding” arm, which a Cheshire Police officer estimated to be four inches long while the “panga-style” machete used by Blease-Maguire was believed to be 18 inches long.
Blease-Maguire, 26, of Bancroft Road, Widnes, was arrested and pleaded guilty to affray, ABH and having a blade in public.
The other man, who wasn’t named in open court, didn’t make a complaint to the police or cooperate with the investigation.
Jeremy Rawson, defending, said there had been “continuing bad blood” between the two men and Blease-Maguire had accused his foe of threatening to burn down his flat, which worried him because his partner had recently had a baby.
Mr Rawson said: “He decided to have matters out.”
He said the situation “escalated”, which Blease-Maguire “bitterly regrets” and “accepts his reaction was over the top”.
Cheshire Police released Blease-Maguire's custody picture to the ECHO on Tuesday morning.
Sentencing Blease-Maguire to 20 months in prison, Recorder Graham Wells told him: “It was 3.50pm in the afternoon, on a sunny, Saturday afternoon, and you were involved in a fight, and clearly the witness was very frightened by what she saw.
“You used a bladed weapon, I’ve seen it. I concur with the assessment it’s probably 18 inches long. It was a frightening weapon to have in public and you used it to hurt somebody.”
He added: “I’m glad to hear you’re making something of your time in prison as you’re going to be there for a while, as the custody threshold is passed.”
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