A MAN has been jailed for five years for stabbing a drug dealer in the neck, chest and abdomen because he had been ‘ripped off.’

Luke McInerny attacked his 26-year-old victim in the street, knifing him repeatedly and leaving him with potentially life-threatening injuries, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

McInerny, 33, of Pemberton Drive, Listerhills, Bradford, took the kitchen knife to the scene of the assault in Keighley on January 13, 2021.

Prosecutor Christopher Dunn told the court yesterday that the victim was stabbed when he arrived in a Ford Fiesta at 8.30am.

Members of the public assisted him after he was knifed. He was taken by ambulance first to Leeds General Infirmary and then to the city’s St James University Hospital.

He had sustained multiple stab wounds after he was knifed in the neck, the chest, the abdomen and his back near to his spine.

McInerny was also taken to hospital because he was bleeding heavily from his wrist. He told the police he had been ‘ripped off’ over drugs and then did not answer any further questions.

He went on to plead guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The victim, who lives in Keighley, needed emergency surgery. He had a punctured thorax, injury to his liver and chest wounds. He needed a second operation when a further chest drain was inserted and he wasn’t discharged from the care of his doctors for three months.

He had since made a full recovery, the court was told.

McInerny had no previous convictions for violence and had not offended at all for 16 years before committing this offence.

His barrister, Carl Kingsley, said he had a personality disorder and his childhood had been blighted by abuse. He began taking drugs in his teens and became addicted.

Mr Kingsley said the complainant in the case was a dealer of drugs.

Judge Graham Reeds KC said that the defendant was a habitual drug user who decided his dealer had swindled him. He took a knife to meet him and ‘things got rough.’ He first attacked the man in his car and when they both got out the vehicle rolled down the hill.

McInerny then pursued him with the knife held in ‘an attacking position.’ He himself suffered a significant wrist injury when his victim began to get the better of him.

The man had a stab wound near his spine, a wounded neck, a punctured lung and injury to his liver. He was expected at the time to make a full recovery and that seemed to be an accurate prognosis.

Judge Reeds said the weapon was never recovered but it was likely from the CCTV to be a kitchen knife with a blade of significant length.

But McInerny had no previous convictions for violence. It was essentially an isolated incident two years’ ago. There had been delay in bringing the case to court that wasn’t his fault.

He had a troubled upbringing with other psychiatric problems.