30 year sentence for man guilty of frenzied knife attack on man in Blackpool

Tuesday, 1 July 2025 17:33

By Central Radio News

A man has been jailed for 30 years after stabbing a man in a frenzied attack in Blackpool.

Mohammed Alshafi left Craig Cardwell with eleven stab wounds, six broken ribs, a fractured cheek bone, punctured lungs and a spinal injury in the assault on Squires Gate Lane in October last year.

He then went on the run sparking a nationwide manhunt, fleeing first to Birmingham and then to Ireland where he was caught.

Cardwell had confronted Alshafi in the street over allegations Alshafi had assaulted his girlfriend, Mary Kate Morrison. But during the altercation Alshafi pulled out a flick knife from his coat pocket and carried out a sustained attack on Cardwell, stabbing him eleven times.

He then fled the scene on foot.

The attack happened shortly before 7pm on October 2nd last year.

Cardwell, who needed five bags of blood given to him at the scene due to the amount of blood he had lost, was taken to Royal Preston Hospital.

In a statement Cardwell, 38 and from Blackpool, described how he thought he was going to die from the attack. He explained how his life changed both physically and emotionally; he still suffers pain and discomfort throughout his body and he struggles with panic attacks and flashbacks of the incident.

Alshafi, 26, of no fixed address, was found guilty after a trial of attempted murder, possession of a bladed article and assault. He was jailed for 30 years on Monday, June 30th.

Det Con Sally Blair, of Blackpool CID, said: “This was a brutal and sustained assault which could easily have cost Craig his life had it not been for the bravery of people at the scene, including off duty paramedics, who came to his aid. I’d also like to praise all the witnesses who came forward to tell us what they had seen.

“Alshafi is clearly a man with a proclivity to extreme violence, and I welcome this significant sentence which reflects the gravity of his crimes. I hope it gives Cardwell and Mary Kate some sense that justice has been served.”