Knifeman slashed victim's face in Wakefield village and told him: 'I'm the hardest man in SESKU'
A knife-wielding thug slashed a man across the face while robbing him of his electric bike.
Jamie Clark even warned the stricken man: “I’m the hardest man in SESKU.”
It was taken to mean the outlying Wakefield villages of South Elmsall, South Kirkby and Upton.
Clark was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week after the judge deemed him to be a danger to the public. The 34-year-old admitted wounding with intent, robbery and having a knife in a public place.
The violence occurred at around 3.30pm on November 7 last year when the victim had gone to withdraw money from the Post Office ATM in South Kirkby.
He then went to a friend’s home on his electric bike, when Clark emerged from between two parked cars.
Clark then began attacking the man, kicking him and punching him to the face. While laid on the floor Clark shouted over him: “I have heard what you have been saying about me.”
He pulled out a folding pocket knife and sliced open the man’s cheek, telling he was the “hardest man in SESKU”. He then took his bike and rode off.
The man was left with a four-inch laceration to his face that required 12 stitches.
The victim, who admits he now anxious about being in public, later picked Clark out of an ID parade.
Clark, of no fixed address, declined to comment during his police interview. He has 26 previous convictions for 81 offences, including 60 thefts. He also has violent convictions including ABH and wounding.
Little personal mitigation was offered up by his barrister, Craig Sutcliffe, other than that he could remember very little of the incident.
Judge Anesh Pema told Clark it “must have been terribly frightening” for the victim.
He jailed Clark for eight years in total, made up of five years’ jail, and three years extended licence period.