Man caught after police followed his blood trail jailed for 14 years

A man who was arrested after police followed his trail of blood through the streets to find him has been jailed for 14 years for sexual assault and grievous bodily harm.

Gohir Ayub, 34, was jailed yesterday (Sept 23) at Stafford Crown Court after being found guilty on 8 April of grievous bodily harm and sexual assault.

The court heard that police were first called in the early evening of 14 December last year after receiving a call from a distressed woman.

The woman spoke a foreign language and struggled to make herself understood but managed to say: ‘Blood, blood, please police’ to operators. A baby could be heard crying.

Officers attended a property in the Snow Hill area of Hanley, and found a woman who was covered in blood and cradling her baby. She told officers she had managed to stab the man who’d attacked her and they seized a bloodied knife.

A passport with the name of Mohammed Gohir Ayub had been left at the scene. A trail of blood ran along Etruria Vale Road, Rectory Road and Bedford Street where Ayub was arrested by officers.

Ayub of Barrett Street, Burslem, was arrested and taken to hospital where he was found to have two stab wounds to his stomach, a stab wound to his chest and back, lacerations and a punctured lung.

Later, Ayub gave an account that he had asked to borrow a pen at an address and the woman who answered the door had ‘flipped’ on him. He admitted to having a drink and some cocaine before the incident.

The victim said she had been asked for a pen, but then Ayub had forced himself on her and attacked her. She said she had grabbed a knife, but couldn’t remember how many times she had stabbed Ayub, or where.

She suffered stab wounds to her neck and head and surgeons removed a broken piece of pen that was two inches long from her neck.

Detective Sergeant Phil White, of Staffordshire Police, said: “This was an extremely distressing experience for the victim as she was unable to make herself understood at first and suffered a traumatic experience.

“Her courage in fighting off Ayub and assisting prosecutors and police officers in bringing this case to court is to be commended, especially as Ayub continued to claim he was the victim rather than the perpetrator of this violent attack.”

Ayub was sentenced to 12 years for GBH and a further two years to be served consecutively for sexual assault.