Wigan drug addict stabbed mum with syringe on a train

Borough justices heard that Emma Cantliff felt the hypodermic sink into the top of her arm as she and her children travelled in a railway carriage during a journey into Manchester last summer.

Fearing infections, the victim had to undergo tests which, happily all came back negative but only after she underwent a distressing wait for news.

Roy Smalley, 50, of Closebrook Lane, Worsley Hall, appeared before Wigan and Leigh magistrates to plead guilty to a charge of assault by beating.

He had claimed that the syringe was in his pocket and that the needle must have been poking through the material when it pierced his victim’s flesh as he walked down the carriage’s aisle.

Prosecutors described Smalley’s actions as “reckless, naive and unintentional,” suggesting he had not meant to injure anyone.

He was given a four-week jail sentence although it was suspended for 12 months. Smalley must also pay his victim £200 in compensation.

The bench told him: “You have a lengthy record of offending and on this occasion as a direct result of your drug misuse you have recklessly caused an injury to an innocent third party who was with her children at the time.

“Luckily any tests that were necessary as a result of this lady being pierced with one of your needles have been negative. That could easily have not been the case.”

The hearing was told that the attack took place on August 3 on the service between Daisy Hill in Bolton and Manchester Victoria station.