QPR hooligan smirked after he stabbed Everton fan who tried to stop attack on woman
He was jailed for five years and banned for eight years from going within a mile of any stadium where QPR are playing
A “dangerous” football hooligan smirked and then burst out laughing after plunging a knife into the chest of a Good Samaritan who tried to stop a girl fan being attacked.
QPR supporter Leon Hughes, 24, was jailed for five years and banned for eight years from going within a mile of any stadium where his team are playing.
A court heard he travelled to Merseyside on a coach from London with a fish knife in his pocket before carrying out the attack following a Premier League game at Goodison Park.
Victim Nikolas Lintott, 20, stepped in when he saw a gang of QPR fans, who had just watched their team lose 2-0 to Everton, picking on a female fan wearing the home team’s replica shirt.
But Liverpool Crown Court heard he was punched and kicked before Hughes, 24, approached and stabbed him.
Prosecutor Simon Duncan said: “He recalled seeing the blade being thrust towards his chest and that the male grinned and put the blade back in his pocket.
“It appears the defendant was pleased with what he had done.
“The complainant saw the smirk and another witness saw a smug smile which soon turned to laughter.”
After the sentencing, brave Mr Lintott insisted he would step in again if he saw a woman being attacked or abused.
He said: “When I saw the woman being attacked I just thought what if that was my mum and it left me fuming.
"I would do it again. It is the way I was brought up.”
“That was a fair sentence. He {the judge} seemed a good judge of character and really saw him for what he was.
“Luckily for me it could have been worse.”
The clash happened about 4.45pm on April 13 in front of hundreds of fans, many women and children, were walking home from the Premier League match.
Mr Lintott was helped by a passing paramedic and taken to hospital with a punctured lung but was discharged the next day.
Hughes returned to the coach and went back to his home in Wandsworth, London, but due to his distinctive silver tooth and sleeve tattoo, detectives from Merseyside managed to trace him using his Twitter account.
The thug, who has previous convictions including assault and affray, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and possessing a knife.
The judge, Recorder Nick Clarke, QC, read a psychological report about Hughes in which he was described as “a dangerous individual who has long demonstrated a willingness, even desire, to use force as a means of earning status among his peers.”
He told him: “The unfortunate Mr Lintott, a season ticket holder at Everton was doing nothing more than trying to help a woman who had become involved in the fracas.
"You unfolded your blade and plunged it straight into his chest. You could have killed him.
“Your reaction was to smirk at what you had done. You appeared smug to those who had seen you and were seen laughing by another witness.”
