A DOG walker was slashed with a knife in an ‘inexplicable episode of violence’ when he asked another man to put his pet on a lead.

John Michael Jones, 34, of Ffordd Cwstenin, Conwy pleaded guilty to the wounding offence and was sentenced at Mold Crown Court on Tuesday, August 11.

On May 8 of this year, John Dalzell was walking his two dogs on a rugby club playing field in Rhos-on-Sea when Jones’ dog approached them around 1pm.

Prosecutor Matthew Dunford said Mr Dalzell asked Jones if he could put his dog on a lead, but Jones took off his shirt and ‘made boxing movements’ and ‘swung two punches towards him’.

Jones made contact on the third punch, causing Mr Dalzell to fall over, before picking up his metal dog lead and hitting him with it.

Mr Dunford said the victim ‘grabbed hold of the defendant’ when he saw he had a knife.

The court heard how Jones slashed Mr Dalzell repeatedly.

A young woman saw the altercation and saw Jones throw his victim’s phone away so he ‘could not call for help’.

Hearing a man shouting for help from her home, Mr Dalzell’s wife ran to the scene, and found her husband ‘kneeling down’ with ‘blood pouring through his fingers’.

A number of other people rushed to the scene to help and saw Jones ‘speeding away’ with his partner in a car.

Mr Dalzell was taken to hospital with multiple lacerations and needed surgery.

He also suffered a 3cm wound to his right forearm and an 8cm wound to the left forearm.

Jones was arrested on June 13 from an address in Colwyn Bay and when he provided a statement, he ‘claimed falsely he acted in self-defence’.

He later admitted unlawful wounding but denied wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

In a victim personal statement, Mr Dalzell said: “When you hear of people being stabbed and attacked, you don’t expect it to be yourself. Not when taking your dog for a walk.”

He added that his arm and hand ‘has not been right since’ and he has only recently gone back to work on ‘light duty’ resulting in a loss of money.

The court heard how during the pandemic, he lives away from his family, who live in England, and has woken in shock every day since.

The former rugby player added: “It has spoiled my outlook on living here. When the restrictions are lifted, I’m going to move away from Rhos-on-Sea. I feel I can’t be safe here.

“It is a family park it should be safe. The whole incident has left me not just fearing for my safety, but everyone else who lives in the area.”

He said he is now known as ‘the lad who got stabbed’ and felt ‘backed into a corner’ when he ‘should have run away’.

Defence Counsel Simon Rogers said the offence was ‘not premeditated’ and was ‘not aggravated’ by drugs or alcohol.

He said the incident “escalated out of control very quickly” and that Jones’ best mitigation was his early guilty plea.

He added: “Sadly, what started as a normal day for him, will now result in receiving a significant sentence of imprisonment.”

Judge Niclas Parry told the court that carrying a knife should not be part of a ‘normal day’.

Judge Parry told Jones, who has 29 previous court appearances for 54 offences, of which 16 involved violence, that he was ‘responsible for an inexplicable episode of violence with a weapon’.

He added that a number of people witnessed the ‘dreadful incident’ and tried to help.

Judge Parry said: “Mr Jones, you could’ve killed that man.

“His enjoyment of life has been affected.”

Jones was given three years and four months in prison, with the licence period extended by 20 months.

Jones will have to serve two-thirds of the sentence before being considered for release by the Parole Board.