Boozed-up thugs jailed over "unprovoked" attack after crossing paths with strangers on Sheffield party street
“This was a brutal, prolonged and completely unprovoked attack on two men who simply happened to cross your path”
Two young men have been left seriously injured and scarred after they were set upon by a group of boozed-up thugs in an attack near a city centre party street.
After drinking to excess, Ciaran Simonite, Dylan Wilson and Bryn Taylor targeted two men they had come into contact with outside a pub on Division Street.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how the serious violence rained down by the three defendants, all of whom were then teenagers, began after Wilson threw a pint glass at the two victims.
All three then ran after their victims, chasing them into Division Lane, before subjecting each of the two men to a “persistent” attack.
Judge Anthony Dunne told the men: “This was a brutal, prolonged and completely unprovoked attack on two men who simply happened to cross your path…there was no confrontation.”
He added: “They were simply on a night out in Sheffield…it seems some words were exchanged…but nothing untoward happened and they both walked away.”
A sentencing hearing on September 17, 2026, heard how one victim was repeatedly punched and knocked to the ground.
Once there, Simonite and Wilson repeatedly kicked him while he was “unmoving” on the ground, and Simonite was seen to “stamp” on the young man with “significant force.”
The court heard how Wilson then turned his attention to the second victim and was joined by Taylor, with the men dragging him to the ground and kicking him.
Simonite continued to kick complainant one as this was happening, causing him to fall unconscious.
After regaining consciousness, the first victim managed to get to his feet, but was brought to the floor once more by the defendants, where the serious assault continued.
Judge Dunne said both victims have “suffered long-term physical and psychological effects as a result of the serious injuries they suffered during the incident on January 11, 2025.
In statements provided more than a year later, one said he has been left with numbness and scarring to his face and also continues to suffer breathing difficulties and anxiety.
Meanwhile, the second said he continues to have problems with hand-eye coordination, as well as difficulties when walking and feels the incident has made managing his autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) “more difficult.”
All three defendants pleaded guilty to two counts of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm at an earlier hearing.
Judge Dunne jailed both Wilson, aged 21, of Remington Road, Parson Cross, Sheffield and Simonite, 21, of St Barnabas Road, Highfield, for four-and-a-half years.
He found both men were instrumental in the violence, but said Simonite had the leading role.
Judge Dunne sentenced Taylor, 20, of Adrian Crescent, Parson Cross, Sheffield to three years’ custody in a young offenders’ institute, after finding he had a lesser - but contributory - role in the violence.
He told the men he had taken their lack of convictions and the young ages at the time of the incident into consideration, along with the difficult childhoods endured by some of the defendants along with conditions including ADHD and autism spectrum disorder.