Kent man has sentence increased for knife attack

A Kent man who attacked a drug dealer with a knife has had his sentence increased after the Solicitor General Alex Chalk QC MP referred his sentence to the Court of Appeal.

On 30 March 2019, George Stemp, then 23, approached the victim who was in his vehicle on the pretext of purchasing cocaine. Before the exchange took place, Stemp opened the car door and stabbed the victim three times using a kitchen knife. The victim ran from the vehicle in fear for his life. Stemp chased him and threatened to stab the victim again unless he handed over more wraps of cocaine before fleeing the scene.

The victim suffered significant injuries in the incident. One of his lungs now has reduced capacity after being penetrated by the knife and medics have told him he may never regain full use of his left hand.

On 4 March 2022, Stemp was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months’ imprisonment at Maidstone Crown Court for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The Solicitor General referred the original sentence to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme because he believed it was too low.

On 25 May the Court of Appeal found Stemp’s sentence to be unduly lenient and increased it to 5 years’ imprisonment.

Speaking after the hearing, the Solicitor General Alex Chalk QC MP said:

George Stemp inflicted life-changing injuries in order to obtain class A drugs. I did not believe that the original sentence accurately reflected the fact that Stemp attacked the victim with the intent of doing him serious harm, so I welcome the Court’s decision to increase the sentence today.