Ten years for Joshua Hare who stabbed victim in head with scissors in front of horrified shoppers

Joshua Hare repeatedly stabbed Matthew Holmes in the head, neck and hand with a pair of scissors in the centre of Salisbury as horrified shoppers looked on.

The 24-year-old had grabbed the scissors from a barber shop before attacking Mr Holmes, who suffered deep cuts to his jaw, head and hand.

Today a judge praised the witnesses who rushed to help Mr Holmes as he lay in Brown Street car park, afraid he would bleed to death.

Salisbury Crown Court heard it was 3.30pm on November 10 when Hare asked Mr Holmes for £1 for a can of beer outside Charlie's convenience store in Catherine Street.

Mr Holmes said he was skint and, after an exchange of words, Hare followed the victim down the street.

Mr Holmes made a derogatory comment about Hare's mother, prompting Hare to walk into Laflins barber shop, grab a pair of scissors, and chase Mr Holmes down the alley next to Cash Converters and into the car park.

There he stabbed Mr Holmes several times in the hand as well as the head and jaw, continuing when the victim fell to the floor, before running off.

Holmes told police: "I actually thought I was going to die. I didn't know if he had got my jugular. All I saw was all the blood. I thought i was bleeding out badly."

Hare was arrested half an hour later in the Friary.

Prosecuting, Ceri Harrison said: "The injuries were extremely serious and needed hospital treatment but could have been far more serious."

The judge, Keith Cutler, said Hare was fortunate not to have been charged with attempted murder.

The court heard Mr Holmes still had problems using his hand and had lost his place on a welding course as a result, but was not seeking any compensation.

"He just wanted to know he would be safe," said Ms Harrison.

The court heard Hare had 21 convictions for 48 offences, including various cases of battery, assaulting police, actual bodily harm, affray, criminal damage, theft, robbery, possessing class A drugs, aggravated vehicle taking, and public order offences.

Ms Harrison said it had been a "sustained and repeated" assault, with the intention to cause more serious harm than was actually caused.

Defending, Audrey Archer said Hare was very ashamed and had said: "It's the biggest regret of my life. It's the stupidest thing I have ever done and I'm very lucky the victim was not more badly hurt."

Hare had been making remarkable progress since his previous prison sentence and had got a job on a building site in Reading, Ms Archer said.

He did not wish to return to Salisbury where he had been mixing with a bad group of people that he knew could lead him onto the wrong side of the law. But when he found himself homeless in Bath and had to return to Salisbury, he went on a downward spiral and started to abuse drugs and drink to excess again.

One the day in question, Mr Holmes had provoked him by insulting his mother, and "was quite capable of giving as good as he got," said Ms Archer.

Ms Archer said Hare had not meant to cause more serious injury, but Judge Cutler said it looked "almost like an intent to kill".

"He wasn't going to give him a haircut, was he?" the judge added.

Judge Cutler said Hare had admitted the "horrific offence" of stabbing Mr Holmes "viciously and violently" to the head and neck.

"There really is no mitigation for that," he said.

Opting to give Hare an extended sentence as a dangerous offender, Judge Cutler said: "I come to the very firm conclusion that you pose a high and very serious risk of harm to members of the public."

Sentencing him to a total of 10 years, Judge Cutler said he would serve four in custody and six out on licence.

Judge Cutler said he was very concerned by the effect the crime had had on Salisbury.

He a barber who witnessed the attack had said the incident would "haunt me forever".

He commended the "marvellous" and public-spirited actions of witnesses, including Amanda Gentle, who rushed to the aid of Mr Holmes as he lay on the ground, pleading for help.