Man gave boy machete and told him to 'chop' couple
Cleveland PoliceA man who gave a 16-year-old boy a machete and told him to "chop" a couple has been jailed for six years.
Aaron Thistlethwaite, 36, "assisted and encouraged" the attack on a man and woman in Stockton which resulted in both victims suffering head injuries, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Judge Francis Laird KC said it was "fortunate indeed" the couple were not more seriously injured in the attack, which was prompted by Thistlethwaite becoming angry when they tried to avoid meeting him.
Thistlethwaite denied wrongdoing but was found guilty of intentional wounding, while the boy admitted the attack and was detained for four years.
The couple were walking down a street in the Hardwick area on the evening of 25 August last year when they saw a taxi pull up and Thistlethwaite and the youth get out, the judge said.
Thistlethwaite, a heroin and crack cocaine addict with a history of violence, had previously stayed with the couple and they did not want to see him, so they turned and walked in the opposite direction, the court heard.
'Directed the attack'
Thistlethwaite shouted after them, then handed the boy a drawstring bag containing a weapon and told him to "chop them", the judge said.
Although the "highly dangerous weapon" was never removed from the bag, it was generally inferred it was a machete-type knife, the judge said.
The youth hit the woman in the head first, cutting down to her bone, then struck the man across the head and shoulder leaving him with cuts, the court heard.
"It was fortunate indeed that they did not receive more serious injuries," Laird said.
Although Thistlethwaite did not strike any of the blows, he was convicted on the basis he "assisted and encouraged" the boy's attack, the judge said.
"You directed that boy to carry out the attack and supplied him with the weapon," the judge said.
The court heard Thistlethwaite had multiple previous convictions, including for carrying weapons and repeatedly punching a man in the face with a knuckle-duster, for which he was jailed for four years and nine months in 2019.
Laird said Thistlethwaite, of Egglescliffe Close in Stockton, posed a significant risk of serious harm to other people.
Both Thistlethwaite and the boy were also ordered to serve an extra three years on extended licence following their release from prison.