Thug, 17, with string of convictions for violence who slashed man’s neck is jailed for four years

A 17-year-old boy who slashed a man’s throat during a pub argument has been jailed for four years – and had his anonymity stricken by a judge.

Kyrese Cashley, from Whitley, Berkshire, swiped at Steven Amor’s neck with a Stanley knife on March 17 this year.

Reading Crown Court heard that it was ‘unclear’ who started the fight at the Pheasant Pub in Reading, but there had been ‘an element of provocation’ and there ‘may well have been some racial comments made’. 

In a previous case, when Cashley was just 15 years old, he beat 56-year-old cyclist Richard Smart with a plastic pole, causing him to suffer a heart attack and brain damage on May 20, 2018.

The teenager, who had already been convicted of handling stolen goods and aggravated vehicle taking, was shown mercy and spared jail, instead being handed a youth rehabilitation order.   

Cashley appeared at Reading Crown Court by video link from HMP Feltham today and was detained in a young offenders’ institute for wounding with intent, which he had denied, and possession of a knife, which he admitted. 

Judge Norton had told Cashley: ‘I cannot ignore the fact that at your young age, you already have an extremely worrying record for violent offences, despite years of intervention by various agencies to support you along a different path.

‘The report from the youth offending services gives a picture of deteriorating engagement and challenging behaviour. A record of non-compliance with court orders and continued offending is extremely worrying.’

Speaking of the attack on Mr Amor, Judge Norton said: ‘Whatever the provocation was, that cannot in any way justify the use of a knife in any circumstances and certainly not to wound Mr Amor in the way that you did, by slashing him across the throat. 

‘Fortunately, the injury sustained by Mr Amor was very minor, but it could so easily have been extremely serious indeed. Indeed, it could have been fatal.’

While awaiting his trial on May 28, Cashley posted a picture of himself on Facebook with the caption: ‘A6333EL this is my prison number I am Feltham if anyone wants to contact shout me.’

Judge Norton told him his posts had influenced her decision to lift the reporting restrictions which had prevented the press from naming the boy in all of his previous court appearances, stating ‘you put yourself in the public domain’. 

In October last year (2019), Judge Edward Burgess QC sentenced Cashley and the younger boy for the attack on Mr Smart, telling them: ‘What you did to Mr Smart was terrible. You could have killed him.

‘He had a heart attack. He suffered life-changing injuries.

‘It is always depressing when people as young as you two are in court and I hope the court does not have to see you again.’

Judge Burgess sentenced Cashley to a 12-month youth rehabilitation order, with a supervision requirement, 60 hours of reparation and a three-month curfew added on to one he was already serving, as well as a five-year restraining order preventing him from seeing Mr Smart.

Just one month later, Cashley was summoned back to Reading Crown Court after the judge heard he had breached his youth order. The boy did not attend, telling the judge he had a bad back.

When Cashley was brought in on a warrant two weeks later, a furious Judge Burgess told him: ‘I am not some glorified social worker, I am a Crown Court judge. I am not here to be touchy feely forever and a day.

‘You may think this is all stuff and nonsense from some windbag judge sitting here in a silly cloak, but it is not. Frankly, I think you have been taking the mick since I imposed this Order on you.’

Giving Cashley a final chance, Judge Burgess spared him jail once again, but by January this year the teenager was back again, having shown shown ‘flagrant disregard’ for the youth order.

Calling the breaches ‘concerning and upsetting’, Judge Burgess detained Cashley in a young offender’s institute for four months.

 

On the day of his release, March 6, Cashley posted a picture of himself on Facebook with the caption ‘fresh home’ and described himself as ‘HMP’s finest’.

The teenager had complained that Mr Smart ‘got rude to me’ before he joined forces with a 12-year-old, who performed a flying kick on the older man.

Speaking about his ordeal, Mr Smart, an appliance specialist at Curry’s PC World, had said: ‘I was clinically dead for 10 minutes, some parts of my brain died.

‘My memory is absolutely shot to pieces. I think about saying something to my partner and as soon as I open my mouth it is gone. It may never return.

‘Since the assault everything has gone wrong. I am a totally different person.’

Cashley was arrested and charged with causing section 20 grievous bodily harm without intent following the attack, which he and the 12-year-old admitted.

However, by October 2018 he committed yet another offence when he was caught with a knife, for which he received a youth rehabilitation order.

Today, Cashley received no separate penalty for breaching a conditional discharge, which was imposed on January 22 for an offence of battery in relation to another incident when he accosted a stranger in a pub.

Judge Norton, before sentencing the boy, pleaded with him to change his ways, saying: ‘You are young and although from all that has been placed before me, you seem to want to go down the path of offending, there are still people out there who have faith in you and your ability to succeed in life. Take that support’.

Cashley, who had laughed and smirked while sitting at the video link booth in HMP Feltham, promised he would take the help on offer.

Richard Smart, hearing the news of the judge’s decision, said: ‘It is absolutely brilliant. He needs to be taught a lesson, he has been doing this since he was a child.

‘He is a nuisance on the street, even while he was inside he was boasting.

‘It is not a joke that he has ruined people’s lives and the community has got to be on guard. It is not fair.’