Trainee Catterick soldier jailed for attempted murder of comrade

James Farrell

A trainee soldier who stabbed a knife into the bed of a comrade who was allegedly bullying him has been jailed for six years for attempted murder.

Private James Farrell, 18, lashed out at the "ringleader" of a group of fellow trainees who were targeting him at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, an earlier court martialat Colchester Garrison in Essex heard.

The blow was aimed at Rifleman Curtis Horbury's head and he had to roll out of the way to avoid being stabbed, prosecutors said.

Farrell said he had no intention of hitting him with the knife and just wanted to scare him to make him leave him alone, but was convicted of attempted murder following a three-day trial last month.

Farrell claimed he was the victim of bullying at Catterick Garrison Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

Vice-Judge Advocate General Michael Hunter and a military board of five officers sentenced Farrell, who appeared in full military uniform, at Colchester Garrison on Monday.

Mr Hunter told Farrell: "You reacted in the way you did because you were being verbally bullied and because you couldn't take it."

Describing it as an "unusual" case in which nobody was injured, he said:

"Following that blow, instead of retrieving the knife and continuing your actions you took no further action.

"You did nothing. This, we find, is because although you had clearly intended to kill, you at that point realised the enormity of what you had just intended to do."

He added that it was "only by chance" that Rifleman Horbury was not killed.

Farrell will now be dismissed from the Army Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

Farrell, who will also be dismissed from the Army, will serve half his sentence in prison and the rest on licence.

The bullying allegations were now the subject of an ongoing independent investigation by the Royal Military Police (RMP).

Farrell, who is from Halifax and was with the 2nd Infantry Training Battalion, also admitted possessing 42 rounds of live ammunition and 30 rounds of blank ammunition and was sentenced for all matters together.

He was jailed for six years for attempted murder and four months for the ammunition offences, with the terms to run concurrently.