Armed thug attacked neighbour with a knife after boasting on Facebook about stabbing people

Kenneth Sissons struck the man with the blade in his own doorway, fracturing his skull, Leeds Crown Court was told. It happened after his neighbour became concerned about Sissons’ behaviour on social media, and previously tried to warn him about walking around with a blade in his hand.

Prosecutor Frances Pencheon said Sissons went to his neighbour’s flat at Cromwell Heights in Burmantofts at around 8am on March 8. When the man opened the door, Sissons asked him if he “had any weed”. The man laughed and told him he didn’t, but was then struck to the head with the knife.

He suffered a five-inch wound to the side of his head, left him with blurred vision and a concussion, plus a small fracture to his forehead which was found during his hospital attendance. The court heard that 35-year-old Sissons has previous convictions for battery and possession of drugs, as well as a having a bladed article from 2009.

He admitted a charge of section 18 GBH and having a bladed article for his latest offences. Mitigating on his behalf, barrister Ian Cook said Sissons had entered early guilty pleas and was mourning the death of his sister which had “impacted on him greatly”.

He added: “It led him down a destructive path, and in sobriety he acknowledges that. He had stopped taking his medication and his way of dealing with his grief was alcohol and drugs.

"He wants to put drink and drugs behind him, he identifies that it’s time to put this life behind him, he is sick of drink and drugs. The catalogue of family bereavements put him in a spiral and he he sees this prison sentence as an opportunity.”

Having being held on remand in HMP Leeds since his arrest, Sissons has completed a number of educational course and has “trusted” jobs on his wing, including being a cleaner.

The judge, Recorder David Gordon told Sissons: “This was not a spur-of-the-moment offence, but it could have been much worse.” He jailed him for 40 months.