Middlesbrough knifeman stabbed holidaymaker at Flamingoland

Joshua Donnelly, 22, also known as Joshua Redpath, was on bail for hitting a woman passenger as he was driving until she leapt out of the moving car, said Jade Buck, prosecuting.

The Middlesbrough man was also on a suspended prison sentence for escape from lawful custody.

“What was a family holiday, has turned into a nightmare, not only for myself but my wider family too,” the stabbing victim said in a personal statement.

“I have never experienced anything like this. I never would have imagined I would have.”

“I have not slept decently since the stabbing; my mind plays the events repeatedly. I relive it.”

The victim, from Scotland, was on holiday with his partner and family and his brother and his brother’s family at Flamingoland Caravan Park last September.

Donnelly, who had argued with his girlfriend, saw the Scottish holidaymaker outside his caravan and from inside it, shouted: “Who the …. are you” and “I will stab you.”

As the man left, Donnelly went to the end of the caravan’s driveway and shouted: “I will stab you if you come back.”

When the holidaymaker later returned to the area, Donnelly took a kitchen knife, left his caravan to run up to him and stabbed him at least twice in the abdomen.

Donnelly accepted through his barrister that the victim had not provoked him and Judge Simon Hickey described the victim as an “innocent man”.

In his personal statement, the attack victim said: “Because of my injuries, my nerves in my right leg have been damaged meaning it’s a lot weaker and different to what it was.

“I am self-conscious of the way I walk now, which I think is a big part of why I struggle to socialise.

“My difficulties with mobility have not only affected my employment, but my home life, we have had to adjust.

“Despite no longer being on medication, the mental toll and long-term physical effects will be something I will carry with me for the foreseeable.”

Knifeman Joshua Donnelly (Image: North Yorkshire Police)

Ms Buck said in June 2024, Donnelly was driving in Cleveland with two passengers when he had demanded money from a woman, claiming her ex-partner owed him money for drugs.

When she refused to give him some, pulled her hair and hit her several times while continuing to drive.  

Donnelly, of Duxford Road, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent, carrying a knife in public and assaulting the woman passenger and was jailed for four years and six months. A charge of dangerous driving was left on file meaning it will appear on his criminal record but not as a conviction.

For him, Gary Wood said Donnelly had been diagnosed with anxiety, may have other mental health issues and was on medication.

“Significantly to this case, his perception of threat was exaggerated,” he said.

Donnelly had a difficult childhood and had been using cannabis and cocaine.

He was now clean of drugs and had been rehabilitating and improving his education while remanded in prison.