"Westlife saved my life: Girl, 15, fights off robber with concert PROGRAMME as she's stabbed in alleyway knife attack"
- - Attack took place in Norwich after the young girl returned from Westlife concert in London
- - Heroin user Stephen Williams was trying to mug girl and her friend
- - The programme recovered from the scene had three knife holes in it
A terrified teenager was saved by a Westlife programme she used to shield herself when a brutal robber stabbed her up to six times on her way from a concert.
The 15-year-old was viciously struck in the chest, abdomen and wrist with a 9inch kitchen knife after she was followed into an alleyway by heroin user Stephen Williams.
The schoolgirl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked late at night in Norwich after she had been to see Irish boy band Westlife, at the O2 in London on May 12.
She pulled the concert programme from her bag which helped to cushion the impact of the frenzied assault, stopping her from being more critically injured or even killed.
Williams, 33, of Norwich, was jailed for seven years and four months at Norwich Crown Court yesterday after admitting robbery at an earlier hearing.
Detective Constable Graham Finney said after the case: ‘The victim’s injuries could have been a lot worse had she not instinctively protected herself using the concert programme.
‘One shudders to think what would have happened if that hadn’t been between her and the knife.
‘She was very lucky.’
The court heard that the music fan and her friend, a woman aged 20, had returned to Norwich together after the concert at about 2.20am on May 13 this year.
Ben Brighouse, prosecuting, said they had met two men on the coach who walked some of the way home with them but they parted at Norwich Playhouse.
He said the two began to walk home down an alleyway, unaware that they were being followed, when they heard Williams shout ‘give me all your bags’.
He said: ‘They saw him running at them at speed. He was holding a large kitchen knife.’
The terror-stricken 15-year-old desperately tried to give her bag to Williams but could not get it off her shoulder.
He stabbed her in the body about five to six times and waved the knife around over her even after she had slumped to the ground.
Williams picked up the shoulder bag, which contained just a bottle of coke and make-up, and fled.
Mr Brighouse said a white carrier bag containing a Westlife programme was later found to have three knife holes in it after helping to ward off the savage blows.
The seriously-injured schoolgirl was rushed to hospital where doctors treated a 5cm wound to the right side of her chest to the depth of her rib, a 5cm incision to the right side of her abdomen above the liver and a 3cm by 7cm wound to the right wrist.
Williams, who confessed after he was picked out by one of the girls at an identity parade, told the court he had taken heroin during the day before arming himself with a knife from his kitchen
He was sat on park bench when he the two girls walk past and stalked them.
Mr Brighouse said both girls, who were ‘slight and petite’, showed a ‘great deal of courage’ in helping to bring Williams to justice.
Katherine Moore, defending, said her client suffers from a degenerative condition which causes significant pain and has led to him taking street drugs which has underpinned his ‘criminality to date’.
He was jailed for seven years and four months with an extension of three years to the period he must remain on licence.
Recorder Alexander Milne said the attack was the ‘top category of street robbery’.
He added: ‘The fact that no major organ, artery or tendon were damaged was a matter purely of good luck, nothing more than that’.
Last night Detective Constable Finney, of Norwich CID, backed his jail sentence.
Detective Constable Finney, who investigated the case, said: ‘This was an extremely traumatic experience for the young teenage victim who only hours before had been enjoying a pop concert in London.
‘Williams committed this offence with no concern for his victim.
‘The fact he has pleaded guilty demonstrates the strength of the prosecution case against him.
‘It also means the victim will not be forced to relive the horror of the attack giving evidence in a trial.’
Credit Source : Daily Mail UK