Southampton man jailed after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm

A Southampton man has been jailed for 18 months for causing grievous bodily harm after a teenage boy was stabbed in Warburton Road, Thornhill.

Leighton Tabone, aged 21, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Southampton Crown Court yesterday, Tuesday, 11 May, after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed article in a public place at a previous hearing.

The court heard that officers were called at around 3.15pm on Wednesday, 10 February, to reports of an altercation between a group of men in Warburton Road, Thornhill.

Upon arrival, officers located two teenage boys. One of the boys aged 16, sustained minor injuries to his arm and the other boy, now aged 18, sustained a stab wound to his hand as a result.

Following the incident, a section 60 was authorised due to concerns of ongoing disorder in the area.

Section 60 is an emergency power and can be put in place quickly to prevent incidents of serious violence happening. It was implemented for 24 hours from 4.45pm on Wednesday 10 February, until 4.45pm on Thursday 11 February.

This emergency power allowed officers to stop and search anyone, without the restrictions of normal stop and search, and apprehend anyone carrying weapons or involved in planned serious violence.

Officers investigating the stabbing quickly analysed CCTV footage from the area and were able to identify Tabone as being responsible for the assault.  

Tabone was arrested and charged, and later pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed article in a public place.   

Yesterday, Tuesday, 11 May, Tabone appeared at Southampton Crown Court where he was sentenced to 18 months in jail.  

Detective Constable Simon Rickets from Southampton’s Investigation Team said “This was a troubling incident involving a knife.

“Tabone went out that day armed with a knife, that resulted in a teenage boy being stabbed.

“Fortunately, the victim sustained minor injuries but the consequences could have been far worse.

“I hope today’s sentence sends out a clear message that violence of any kind will not be tolerated and we will do everything we can to take these offenders off our streets and keep our communities safe. Section 60s are an emergency power that we use in order reduce weapon-related violence, but it is not a long term solution to weapon-enabled crime.

“We are working closely with Southampton’s Violence Reduction Unit to tackle the root causes of violent crime but this requires a multi-agency response across our community, the public, private and charity sectors in order to deliver long-term change.

“We urge communities to keep reporting intelligence around knife crime so that together we can continue to tackle this threat in society. To do this people can call us on 101 or report online at https://www.hampshire.police.uk/

“Alternatively, if you have concerns or information about violent gangs or individuals in your community, but don't want to go to the police, you can tell fearless.org what you know 100% anonymously.

We host a webpage aimed at supporting professionals and parents with information and resources to help educate, guide and support children and young people in keeping safe. For information go to https://www.safe4me.co.uk/.