Sheffield teenagers locked up for 25 years after 'raining blows with knives' in vicious attempted murder

CCTV played in Sheffield Crown Court today (March 21) showed how Leon Sykes, aged19, and Ramaray Treasure, 18, chased a man on West Street and descended on him with knives.

The “senseless” and terrifying assault on March 9 last year saw the pair’s 24-year-old victim suffer 30 different wounds, including a punctured lung. He needed four bags worth in an emergency blood transfusion, and evidence showed the knives miraculously missed piercing his hear by a centimetre.

However, the entire attack was caught live on an active CCTV camera.

Just minutes after the attack, as the pair ran away to Pound’s Park and ‘high-fived’ over the beating, officers with tasers arrived and ordered them to the ground.

Neither defendant has even given up why they targeted and nearly killed their victim in the first place, and the attack came after they savagely chased a different man earlier that night on Carver Street.

But Judge Graham Reeds KC said in sentencing today: “You both participated in a brutal and sustained attack in an attempt to murder a man you did not know over a conflict that has not been brought to light.”

CCTV showed how Sykes and Treasure - who were 18 and 17 at the time - ambushed their victim near a bus stop on West Street before chasing him down until he tripped and fell.

A brave member of the public acted quickly and ran over in an attempt to stop them, but the pair kept swinging down at the man with weapons in hand.

The member of the public described the attack as “raining blows,” saying he was “stunned by the level of violence.”

The two teenagers made no comment in their police interviews but later pleaded guilty to attempted murder.

The court heard both young men had “genuine remorse” for their near fatal actions, and were heavily intoxicated on “champagne and vodka” at the time. Treasure claims he has little memory of the attack all.

It was also claimed they had “no plan” to attack anyone that night and carried their knives out of “fear.”

However, the court heard Sykes had also been handed a community order for carrying a knife just weeks before the attack.

“That, evidently, did nothing to stop you carrying a knife once again,” said the judge.

“It was more by luck that he survived.

“Had he not had early surgical intervention it is likely he would have died.

“The consequences of what you did remains with him to this day.”

Sykes, of Victoria Street, Stocksbridge, was jailed for 13 years and eight months. Treasure, of Tansley Street, was jailed for 12 years. Both will begin their sentences in young offender institutes.