A Cleveland Police officer who thought he was going to die when his throat was slashed in a brutal assault has said he’s relieved his attacker is now behind bars.
The officer said: “You walk into this job to an unknown risk every single day. But it has taken this to happen to me to realise the true danger of what is out there, who’s out there, and to always be on your guard – you can’t slip up ever because it could be fatal.”
The officer – who has asked not to be named – had been trying to arrest a drug dealer, Aaron Gray, in Middlesbrough last June when he was attacked by two men who punched and kicked him.
Then Gray pinned him down, pulled out a kitchen knife and cut his throat.
Gray fled the scene, but was arrested following a large manhunt.
Despite the serious injuries inflicted upon the officer, and the nature of the cowardly attack, Gray was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon, and this month was sentenced to five years behind bars.
The officer said: “It’s one of those things you never think is going to happen to you.
“But my initial thought was, when he’s on top of me, when I see the knife, that I was going to die, genuinely believing it was game over.”
Fortunately, the officer made a full physical recovery from the four-inch cut to his throat, but he said he is a “lot more cautious now, especially when I’m going out single-crewed, as to what could happen”.
Unsurprisingly he was psychologically affected by the attack, but says he received a lot of help and support.
He said: “After the incident, I was referred straight for a TRiM meeting to discuss the event and how it affected me. And I spent a bit of time with the force’s wellbeing department and received counselling after the incident.
“That was helpful because it helped me to get a few other things off my chest as well.
“I would always say to someone, if they’ve experienced a traumatic incident like that, just take the support that the force offers, it does make a difference.”
He added that the support he received from colleagues, friends and supervising officers was also “massively helpful for me”.
The officer said he was pleased with the court’s sentencing and that it had given him a sense of closure.
He said: “When I heard that [Gray] was sentenced to five years, I was not only relieved that there was closure to it, but I was pleased because five years is a hefty amount of time. A lot can change in five years, and that’s a lot of time for someone to reflect.”
The officer added: “I’m trying to take the positives of it. I’ve learned now to expect the unexpected at any possible time, and it’s one thing I’d implore to anyone who does this job.”
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Where on earth do we start with this story?
Gray is a drug dealer, so should be locked up for increasingly long periods of time given he is spreading death and destruction within his community. Had he been locked up for a decent period, this would not have happened.
The story states that two thugs held down a copper while Gray cut his throat with a kitchen knife. That has to be attempted murder all day long. The two thugs should have been arrested for being accessories to attempted murder.
Instead, he is charged with GBH and locked for 5 years. 5 years!! For trying and for all I know, very nearly succeeding in killing a man. He will be out in mid 2024 and back to his old ways. This is crazy.
On the one hand, we have senior officers telling the troops to harass dog walkers deep in the country side while on the other, allowing limp wristed charges like this. Judges too must remain firmly in the cross hairs. This guy should have got the maximum sentence for GBH.
This was a Category A offence, in this context a significant degree of planning or premeditation. He had his two mates with him. He also used a highly dangerous weapon, a knife.
A Category 1 level of harm is as follows:
Particularly grave or life-threatening injury caused
Injury results in physical or psychological harm resulting in lifelong dependency on third party care or medical treatment
Offence results in a permanent, irreversible injury or psychological condition which has a substantial and long term effect on the victim’s ability to carry out their normal day to day activities or on their ability to work
That fits the bill too. Given that Gray is a drug dealer, society really needs him off the streets for as long as possible.
When it comes to sentencing, there is a matrix of categories 1-3 and A-C on the sentencing side. The minimum for a 1A offence is 14 years which can rise to 16 years. That this thug only got 5 years means that the judge decided that either his offence was a Category 1 and the harm was a Category 3, the starting points of which are 5 years. The lowest category, 3C, has a minimum sentence of 4 years.
When we have decisions like this handed down, no wonder that the judicial system is viewed by those in the know as a complete laughing stock. Indeed, those outside it view it much the same. Meanwhile officers are sent round to ‘check on people’s thinking’.
No wonder the cops are struggling to recruit, all the more so given that applicants must now be degree indoctrinated, whoops, sorry, I mean educated.