Man guilty of attacking boy, 12, on bouncy castle during birthday party pictured

19 September 2023 , 21:08

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A police car outside the property in Southport Road, Bootle (Image: Liverpool Echo)

A thug who viciously attacked a 12-year-old boy on a bouncy castle has been pictured.

Mason Clague, 22, assaulted the unnamed child who was also stabbed four times at the birthday party in Bootle, Merseyside, by a second unknown man. Clague was found guilty yesterday after a trial at Liverpool Crown Court of wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. He was cleared of possession of a bladed article.

Jurors took just 20 minutes to reach a verdict following the four-day hearing. Charlotte Atherton, appearing for the crown, told the court how the brutal attack occurred after the victim left his younger sister's birthday party with his 14-year-old friend to buy drinks from a nearby shop. The pair went onto a grassy area on Southport Road and began "larking about" and throwing stones, one of which landed near Clague as he crossed the street towards his own property.

Clague became enraged, ran into his house and emerged with another man, who has not been identified, reports the Liverpool Echo. The pair chased the two boys back into the garden, where Clague knocked the boy onto the bouncy castle and "punched, kicked and kneed" him as the unknown man stabbed him several times in the leg and buttocks. The boy described feeling a "poke in the leg" and believed he had been knifed by both of the men - one of whom he identified as his nan's neighbour.

He told police: "He (Clague) jumped on top of me and started punching my face, going 'who are you, lad?' I didn't know what to do so I punched him back. The other one ran over and started poking me in the leg. He (Clague) was punching me still and he dragged me up by my hair and he was kicking me in the face. Everyone was screaming. My mum ran out and he was still kicking me and she screamed, and the lad was shouting 'I'll chop all of yous'." He went on to say he had no idea he had been stabbed until after the chaos had broken up and he was in his nan's kitchen.

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He said: "It was itchy. I felt something dripping down me. I itched it and saw I had a hole (in my trousers). I pulled my pants down and that's when I said to my mate 'I've been stabbed, help me'. I was in the kitchen. I was holding onto the sink." Clague, an Edge Hill University student, claimed that he "didn't leave the proximity of his house the whole time or go anywhere near the house where the kid got stabbed the whole day", adding: "I have lived in that house for 22 years. I know for a fact they have just seen the two lads run from the direction of my house and they are trying to pin it on me." He will be sentenced next Wednesday, September 27, by Recorder David Knifton KC, who presided over the trial.

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