The teenager ‘nearly took his victim’s arm off’ after he was followed into an alley by a boy on an e-bike
Joel Price(Image: Merseyside Police)
A thug joked with his friends that his victim got “terrored and chopped” after he stabbed a 15-year-old boy. Joel Price “nearly took the teenager’s arm off” as he knifed him after being followed into an alleyway by someone on an e-bike.
He then exchanged a series of text messages which bragged about his violent exploits, including one which stated that the young riders had “pulled up on the wrong guy, put it that way”. The schoolboy was meanwhile left calling his mum for help, later being required to undergo surgery as a result of his gruesome injuries.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Friday, that the teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, phoned his mother shortly after midday on November 9 last year and told her that he had been stabbed. She thereafter collected him from Merseybank Road in New Ferry, Wirral, and drove him to hospital.
Derek Jones, prosecuting, described how he was subsequently found to have suffered a 10cm laceration to his left upper arm, as well as a 3cm wound to his forearm. He required an operation in order to repair damage which had been caused to his tendons.
CCTV footage captured shortly before the incident occurred showed Price, of Beverley Road in New Ferry, and an associate engaged in a confrontation with two youths on an electric bike, during which the then 17-year-old defendant was shown opening his tracksuit top and “intimating that he had a weapon down his tracksuit bottoms”. The teenagers on the bicycle thereafter rode off before later following the other males down an alleyway, with the complainant riding as pillion passenger.
It was during this second altercation that he was apparently stabbed, although he refused to cooperate with Merseyside Police’s investigation into the assault. Price, who is now aged 18, was then arrested on November 11 2024, with messages which were subsequently found on his phone having referred to the boys having “a little thing”, or a knife, in their possession.
Other texts exchanged between him and his friends, which included the Sur-Ron electric bike being referred to as a “Ron”, read: “They pulled up on him with Joel on a Ron and got terrored. They pulled up on the wrong guy, put it that way. Lad, he hopped off the Ron n got done up quick time. I saw the wound. It was dirty. Nearly took the little [racial slur]’s arm off. JP on the scoreboard.”
A picture of a machete was also found on Price’s phone alongside the caption “hopped off the Ron and he got chopped”. Having thereafter been released on bail, police then spotted him stopping his electric scooter and “snorting a white substance” on New Year’s Eve.
He was ultimately detained in spite of his efforts to make off from officers and was found with a lock knife in his pocket, as well as a quantity of ketamine. Roadside and blood tests later confirmed him to be over the limit for the class B drug.
Price was however released again following this incident before being seen by PCs smoking cannabis on February 28 this year. He again fled at the sight of police officers and threw an item into a bush, where another lock knife was then found.
His criminal record shows one previous conviction for possession of a bladed article after he was stopped with a hunting knife with a 10-inch blade in his waistband. This led to him being handed a nine-month youth referral order in July last year.
Daniel Travers, defending, told the court: “The court will have its suspicions about what the background to this is. I have to accept that, over the last year or so, there are, including that very first conviction, now four separate knife convictions. That, of itself, is obviously a worrying picture.
“He was 17 at the time. He is now only 18. There is an element of excessive self defence. On the crown’s evidence, the defendant was followed into an alleyway by a man armed with a weapon himself who was clearly intent on attacking the defendant. The defendant is carrying a weapon, anticipating the potential for a confrontation.
“Obviously it is a very serious incident, but it was started by the young man who got injured. It is an aggravating feature that, on two separate occasions, he continues to carry knife. It will be this young man’s first custodial sentence. If there are some worrying signs, there are some elements that are positive. He is only young. I ask the court to consider that there is an element of bravado about him.
“A theme I have identified is him looking up to his brother, a 21-year-old who is in employment, has got a child and who clearly disapproves of this defendant’s lifestyle. Although the defendant has had difficulties in his upbringing he does have a role model, someone who he respects and someone who cares for him. That is a positive influence.
“In custody, he is working as a welder. He is enjoying that challenge. This is a young man who understands the benefit of employment. If he can follow in his brother’s footsteps, there is that hope. He clearly needs a lot of assistance. It is hoped that this period in custody will enable him to get that education and training.”
Price admitted unlawful wounding, three counts of possession of a bladed article in a public place, possession of ketamine and cannabis, drug driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance. Appearing in the dock wearing a green Montirex t-shirt and sporting mid-length mousey hair, he was handed 15 months in a young offenders’ institute and banned from driving for 19 months.
Sentencing, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: “The victim was 15 years of age. It seems that he may well have been in possession of a knife as well. There was some dispute between you. It was when you subsequently went down that alleyway that you were followed.
“There was, again, some sort of incident there. You ended up stabbing him twice to his left arm. I am not able to accept the submission made on your behalf that this is a case of excessive self defence. There is no evidence of that at all.
“It seems to me that you are habitually someone who goes about the community with knives in your possession. You are quite able to intimate that you have got one and capable of using it, and capable you are.”
The judge added of a pre-sentence report into Price’s background: “It makes for concerning reading. There is clearly a suspicion that you are involved in at least gang crime, if not organised crime.
“Clearly, you are young. There is an element of bravado about your attitude and what you are doing, but you are viewed as a high risk of causing serious harm to the public. It is very much supported by four occasions now when you have been out with a knife. The risk of you offending in a serious way is also described as substantial.”