Birmingham Chip Shop Stabbing: Man Jailed

28 July 2015, 11:49 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A knife-man from Birmingham who repeatedly stabbed a chip shop owner in an ``irrational'' life-threatening attack has been jailed for 14 years.

Leon McTaggart launched the unprovoked assault on Narinder Sidhu after slamming his fists on the counter at a takeaway and asking his victim: ``Do I look like an idiot?''

Wolverhampton Crown Court was told McTaggart, of Hagley Road, still denies committing the offence in November last year.

The 29-year-old was convicted of wounding with intent at a previous hearing and appeared for sentence via a videolink to HMP Woodhill in Buckinghamshire.

Mr Sidhu, aged 51, did not see a knife during the attack and initially believed he had been punched, after a pane of glass in a door was broken at his shop in Quinton, Birmingham.

He was admitted to intensive care, placed in an induced coma, underwent surgery, and spent two weeks in hospital before being discharged.

McTaggart, who was arrested at his bed-sit after being identified through an appeal on social media, stabbed Mr Sidhu five times in the arm, chest and back.

Judge John Warner, who heard that the victim still suffers difficulties in sitting and lying down, told McTaggart: ``I don't know why you acted in the way you did.

``You didn't place an order and kicked back your legs, smashing a glass door.

``Whether you were on drugs I don't know. On the one hand this was irrational behaviour of the most violent kind, on the other you have no history at all of serious violence.''

McTaggart has previous convictions for burglary and was on bail for throwing a phone at a police officer when the stabbing occurred.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Sidhu said he was still anxious that his life would be shortened as a result of his injuries.

``It's very difficult for me to describe how vicious this attack was,'' he said. ``I truly believed that I faced death.''