Shoreham stabbing: Jordan Bell guilty over Nicolson Drive raid

Jordan Bell was among four men who “burst in” to a garden in Shoreham.

The gang demanded cash from Cerys Evans and Lewis Harrington who were in a summerhouse.

Ms Evans was punched in the head and left bleeding at the property in Nicolson Drive.

As she screamed, her father David Evans rushed out to confront her attackers.

He was stabbed and left with a punctured lung before the gang fled.

Bell, 20, denied being one of the men to use violence during the gang raid.

But at Hove Crown Court, a jury found him guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary, and possession of an offensive weapon in public.

Hove Crown Court. Image: Google

Bell had refused to name his accomplices, but the jury heard initials of those involved may have also been another JB, RG and SP.

Mr Evans’ blood was found on the hood of a top owned by Bell, and he was also identified as one of the men inside the summer house by a “distinctive” Gucci belt.

Police seized those items and a balaclava from his address in Lancing days after the raid in February last year.

Bell had claimed he was forced to attend because he owed cash to an Albanian drugs gang. He said he felt scared of reprisals.

But Richard Hearnden, prosecuting, said Bell had told a “tissue of lies” about his involvement.

A MAN is in hospital after being stabbed by a group of young men in a late-night attack...The assault happened in Nicholson Drive, Shoreham, last night...Police were called to the brutal incident shortly before 10pm...The victim is currently being

He said: “Masked intruders burst into the garden of a family’s home in Shoreham. Those intruders hit a woman in the face so hard that blood was pouring from her.

“They stabbed her father. Both were completely innocent people who seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“All of a sudden the glass and timber doors flew open, they had been kicked in off their hinges.

“Two men were outside hovering, and two men were standing opposite them wearing balaclavas.

“One had a knife in his right hand, the other man had a metal pole. They shouted ‘where’s the money?’”

The jury found Bell guilty after a week-long trial.

Jordan Bell was found guilty of his role over the stabbing at Nicolson Drive, Shoreham

Her Honour Judge Christine Henson QC told him he will face an “inevitable” sentence for the violent offences.

But a date for sentence will have to be arranged.

Bell, formerly of Grafton Gardens, Sompting, was told he could expect a prison sentence.

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