Police welcome jailing of Co Down man for 'savage and violent attack'

Matthew Kane, with an address in Newcastle, Co Down, was sentenced at Downpatrick Crown Court to nine years for four counts of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and two years for possession of an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence.

The sentences are to run concurrently and he will serve four and a half years in prison and four and a half on licence.

Welcoming the jailing of Kane, Detective Chief Inspector Julie Mullan said: “There is no sentence that will compensate for the horror and the terror inflicted by Kane on his victims.

"It is a miracle lives were not lost as a result of what was a savage and violent attack.

"Kane's victims, three men and a woman - including a member of the public in a neighbouring property who had come to help - were left not just physically injured but also extremely traumatised as a result of what was a frenzied and violent attack.

"While I hope today's sentence will provide some level of comfort to his victims, I recognise that for some if not all of the victims, the trauma of what happened to them will stay with them forever. What I do know for certain is that today's sentencing will make the community a safer place with Kane behind bars."

DCI Mullan added: "I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the actions of the officers who attended the scene of this brutal and horrendous crime, some of whom administered first aid to the victims. In particular, without the actions of three of our Armed Response Unit officers to one of the victims who had been seriously injured. The victim's injuries would most likely have proved fatal, as Northern Ireland Ambulance control staff later confirmed."