The Market Inn, Bracknell: Knifeman jailed over stabbing

Harry Goodwin, 27, was today locked up after telling a punter at The Market Inn he would ‘gut him’ and ‘carve him up’ before launching at him with a hunting knife back in August 2021.

The victim, a 51-year-old who now describes himself as a ‘shell of a person’, was taken to hospital in a critical condition after the blade punctured and collapsed his lung.

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Reading Crown Court today heard how the knife that was used in the attack was given back to Goodwin by members of a rowing club in Walton he had stormed into a month earlier.

The incident at the Market Inn took place at 1.30am when the victim and his friend were talking and laughing.

Goodwin, who was also drinking at the pub with a woman, took the laughter to be aimed at him and said: “why are you laughing at my missus?”

The victim told Goodwin he was not laughing at him and that he ‘didn’t want any hassle.’

But the knifeman, formerly of Birchett Road, Farnborough, retorted by calling the victim a ‘paedophile’ and said: ‘I’ve got a large knife, I’m going to gut you and carve you up.’

He took the knife out of his rucksack and swiped the man’s hand before swinging again and stabbed him in the left armpit.

The rambo-style knife, with a serrated edge, pierced the man’s lung causing it to puncture.

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The victim banged on the door of the pub for help as Goodwin fled the area.

Fortunately, a paramedic arrived quickly to the scene and the man was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

He stayed there for four days before being discharged.

In a statement read by Mr Sank, the victim said: “Since the morning of August 21 my life has changed.

“Prior to this event I was very social, confident and loved to laugh. However, since this date, I have become shell of a person, unable to sleep due to nightmares and fearful for my safety every time I leave my home.”

Reading Crown Court heard how the incident has had a big impact on the victim’s family, including his son, who ‘was first on the scene, saw all the blood and thought his dad was dead.’

Harry Goodwin stabbed a man at The Market Inn in August 2021

A month before the incident at The Market Inn, Goodwin, who has previous convictions for possession of a knife, affray and assaulting a police officer, stormed Walton Rowing Club in Surrey with a knife.

The members of the club were threatened with the knife by the ‘aggressive’ Goodwin, who said he would “cut them with his knife” and that he “welcomed 25 years in prison for doing so.”

He picked up a bottle and smashed it against his head, injuring a member of the club with a stray piece of glass.

Goodwin also hit a member of the club over the head with his elbow.

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Members gave him a glass of water to calm him down and the knife was taken away from him when he was not looking.

They told him they would give him the knife back if he left the premises and once Goodwin had departed and the doors were locked, they lowered the blade to him on the street.

Oliveira Agnew, Goodwin’s defence counsel, told Reading Crown Court this was the same knife as the one used in Bracknell.

Mr Agnew said both incidents occurred when the defendant’s mental health was “in a difficult place.”

Describing the attack in Bracknell, the barrister said the victim was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

However, he claimed Goodwin has a “clear remorse and regret for what happened in both situations.”

Reading Crown Court heard how the defendant has expressed a desire to write to the victims in both cases “to show he understands the plain and distress he has caused these people.”

If he is given permission to do this, he will have to do it from behind bars as Miss Recorder Studd, QC, sentenced him to 11 years and six months in prison.

She described the incident in Walton as “frightening” and the stabbing in Bracknell as “terrifying”.

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“He has been very gravely affected by this incident”, the Recorder said of the victim in the pub attack.

“He is a radically different person to who he was.

“All this was caused by you and your unlawful and violent behaviour.

“Your actions have had a profound effect on all aspects of his life and his family.

“You have shown a lack of control and reckless and unpredictable behaviour.

“This was an unprovoked attack on a stranger that caused him significant injury and could have resulted in a loss of life.”

Goodwin was sentenced for two counts of assault by beating, possession of a knife and wounding with intent at Reading Crown Court on Friday, March 25.