Stabbing men arrested after argument over mobile phone

Two men who carried out a knife attack on a stranger at a train station in Kent were sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison.

Lewis Day, 26, of Hereson Road, Ramsgate, and Daryl Brown, 33, of Westgate-on-Sea, attacked the man after mistakenly believing one of his friends was trying to steal his mobile phone at Whitstable station.

At Canterbury Crown Court on Monday, Day was sentenced to 14-and-a-half years in prison and Brown to three-and-a-half years.

Once released, Day will also serve an additional three years on license.

The victim, a man in his 50s, was on the opposite platform of Day, Brown and a female friend on Dec. 16, 2023.

Day went to retrieve the cellphone his female friend had left behind, and the victim gave it to her.

Brown mistook this for the victim trying to steal the phone and threw a beer can at him, which the victim threw back.

Day and Brown chased him from the station, caught him in an alley, and stabbed him multiple times.

The pair then fought each other, with Day boarding the train and Brown and the woman remaining in Whitstable.

A passerby who noticed the argument found the victim and called for help; Brown and Day were arrested a short time later.

Det Con Matthew Burridge said: “These two men appeared completely unconcerned about leaving the victim to die and it is perhaps only thanks to the intervention of a member of the public that we are not facing a fatal attack.

“This was a horrific attack on a man who was trying to help a friend of two attackers.

“It is clear that the attack will have a long-term impact on the victim and his family, but I hope he will find some comfort in knowing that these two men have been taken off the streets of Kent.”