A MUM whose family was held at knifepoint by a thug who stabbed two policemen has told of her ordeal.
Joanne McNally said she thought she was going to die as Leon Smith attacked her family.
Smith, who threatened to kill her and her teenage son, stabbed two officers who tried to tackle him at her Moston flat.
Smith, 24, from Blackley, was labelled a 'dangerous young man' by a judge last week and jailed indefinitely for public protection.
Mrs McNally, 36, said: "It's been a nightmare. Smith was like a madman that night.
"I thought we were going to die, he kept saying he was going to kill us. I didn't think any of us would make it out alive."
Smith and an accomplice had forced their way into their home in the early hours of October 6 last year. The family - Joanne, husband Anthony and son Jordan, then 16 - heard the sound of glass breaking.
"I went to the top of the stairs and saw two lads," said Joanne. "They had my son's bike and went out the front door. I ran to shut the door, but they barged their way back in.
Ransacked
"They held a knife to our throats and kept dragging us up and downstairs demanding money and ransacking our home. They hit us over and over again.
"They threatened to cut my hands off and held a knife to our throats and kept punching us.
"It was terrifying."
Mr McNally jumped from a top-floor window to raise the alarm and fractured his foot.
As police arrived, Smith's accomplice fled, but he remained - and stabbed two officers.
Manchester Crown Court was told Smith had 27 previous convictions for 61 offences. He pleaded guilty to wounding with intent, assault with intent, aggravated burglary and assault with intent to resist arrest.
Family's knifeman terror
June 25, 2009
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JAILED: Leon Smith
Showing comments 1 to 16 and replies | View All
Maynard Kitchener Lampwick Manchester , (25/06/2009 at 06:53)
The Higher Openshaw Exile, MANCHESTER (25/06/2009 at 08:23)
dessie, manchester (25/06/2009 at 08:34)
All those that were against the police having these weapons need to have a word with themselves.
john davis (25/06/2009 at 08:59)
RJKS, St Retford (25/06/2009 at 09:40)
Black Flag (25/06/2009 at 09:49)
I'm happy for the police to have tasers, but only if we can all have them. Why should we have one rule for one chosen group and another for the rest of us?
Dave THE K, Farnworth (25/06/2009 at 09:54)
Tazers should be issued to officers, then the two officers might not have got stabbed and this fool would have been stopped before two lives were put at risk.
People saying that tazers are no good for our police need to think.
Now if this idiot came into my house I would love police officers to turn up armed with tazers, I wouldn't want my wife or two children harmed like anyone else wouldn't-but we need more tazers on the street for the hard working police, oh yeah and M.E.N, I have plenty of pics of your vans on double yellows, and also going through a no entry sign (3 points for driver) to drop off an A board, not papers just a board. And the drivers excuse....??
Let the cops do their jobs,
Dave "THE" K
Chris P. Duck (25/06/2009 at 10:48)
Is It Me? (25/06/2009 at 10:53)
Black Flag (25/06/2009 at 11:18)
Criminals don't tend to worry about whether or not having a weapon is illegal, being criminals, so it's irrelevant. If they want to arm themselves they will.
"The police are "chosen" as they are trained and accountable in the use of them."
That doesn't stop them using them irresponsibly though. If training is necessary, then we can always introduce a test along the lines of a driving test to prove competence.
"Do you think that everyone should be allowed firearms just because the police do?"
Yes, absolutely. I believe in equality before the law and the original principle the police were formed under, which is that the public are the police and the police are the public. The police are just people, so if we ever get to the stage where we decide that some people should be allowed to walk around the street carrying guns, then that freedom should apply to all people.
sneakitawc (25/06/2009 at 12:24)
the guy's a lost cause and should be taken off the planet, let alone the streets (leon smith, not black flag!).
dessie, manchester (25/06/2009 at 12:46)
you live in cuckoo land if you think everyone should be armed with tazers!! im pretty sure if someone broke into your home and did this i think you would be happy to see the police take this guy out with a tazer, but look at it another way if this guy had a tazer and shot ur family with one would you still want them to given given to all and sundrie???????
i thnk not!!!!
Black Flag (25/06/2009 at 13:28)
You live in cloud cuckoo land if you think tasers should be given to the police and no one else. To be clear, I don't think everyone should be armed with tasers, but I do think that, if some people have a right to carry a taser, then we all should.
"im pretty sure if someone broke into your home and did this i think you would be happy to see the police take this guy out with a tazer"
Why should I be forced to rely on the police to protect me? If the situation warrants a taser, why shouldn't I have one to hand, rather than relying on the police, who probably won't turn up until I'm dead anyway if that's the way it's going to pan out.
You talk as if you want to prevent this kind of incident, but in truth, given the choice between allowing the public to protect themselves or breaking the police's monopoly, you'd rather give criminals a free reign and leave the public defenseless.
"but look at it another way if this guy had a tazer and shot ur family with one would you still want them to given given to all and sundrie??????? i thnk not"
Try thinking the situation through. This is a criminal. He was armed anyway. I don't think a taser being illegal would have made the slightest difference to him if he'd wanted to carry one.
Angie33 , Manchester (25/06/2009 at 14:16)
Mr Mancunian, Sydney Australia (28/06/2009 at 23:17)
However, having taken note of cases where an intruder has been injured by the householder. It is true to say that the police & the CPS would do their best to lay charges & prosecute anyone who had the temerity to defend themselves or their property with any degree of force.
It is absolutely useless & stupid for the 'law' to suggest that a minimum of force should be used in self defence. Are normal, law abiding citizens expected to know or care what a minimum of force is?
They are, in all probability, fighting for their lives.
"The law is a ass".
Black Flag (29/06/2009 at 11:19)
The law doesn't say that a minimum of force should be used, it says the amount of force should be reasonable.