A FORMER soldier from Carlisle who knifed his brother in the chest and then ignored a plea for help as he lay bleeding has been jailed for more than two years.
Ex-military man Andrew Leslie Ryan, 41, took hold of a grey-handled blade while drunk during a furious row inside his own home with sibling Matthew Ryan at around 8-20pm on December 13 last year.
Matthew Ryan suffered a 2cm chest wound which penetrated all muscle layers and caused a very minor puncture of his left lung, and also sustained injuries to his hand and side as he tried to fend off the attack. As Mr Ryan sat on a sofa and asked for help, his alcohol dependant brother simply replied: “F*** off.”
A neighbour who’d heard banging discovered the injured man outside the Millholme Avenue property, used a tea towel to try and stem bleeding and dialled 999. Police forced entry to Ryan’s home, saw blood-staining to the walls and carpet, recovered a knife and arrested the householder, who later asked about his brother’s wellbeing but provided a “no comment” interview.
A medical expert had concluded that significant force, equivalent to a powerful punch, had been used by Ryan, and that if the blade had penetrated any deeper there was a risk of a “catastrophic, life threatening haemorrhage or puncture lung”. “Fortuitously it didn’t go any further,” prosecutor David Clarke told Carlisle Crown Court today (TUES) as Ryan was sentenced having admitted unlawful wounding.
Judge Nicholas Barker heard Ryan had a long history of violence and mental health problems including a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, but also that there had been a recent “breakthrough” with a psychiatrist identifying trauma during his past military service.
Ryan, of Millholme Avenue, Currock, was jailed for 26 months by Judge Barker, who appeared on the remote Skype conference link using an iPhone in court due to technical issues.
Speaking about Ryan snubbing his brother’s desperate ple for help after the knife attack, Judge Barker told him: “Your action of leaving your brother unaided at that point could so easily have led to his death or far (more) serious injury.”
