A fugitive who went on the run for three years after he was involved in an attack on a man in his own home has been jailed.
Aaron Noonan, 28, drove his sidekick Bradley Rabjohns to the scene of the attack in Catterick Village in August 2020, York Crown Court heard.
Noonan, who was then living in Northallerton, was arrested and, like Rabjohns, was initially charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and aggravated burglary.
He was due in court for a plea hearing in December 2023, but by then he had gone AWOL and absconded to Ireland where he remained in hiding for almost three years.
Police in Ireland eventually caught up with Noonan and he was extradited to Britain where he was due to face trial for the wounding and burglary allegations but ended up pleading guilty to an alternative charge of affray.
The burglary and wounding charges were ultimately dropped after the prosecution accepted his pleas.
Noonan finally appeared for sentencing via video link on Tuesday after being remanded in custody in May.
Prosecutor David Hall said that Rabjohns ultimately admitted an alternative charge of wounding or causing grievous bodily harm without intent and was jailed for two years and two months in June last year.
By then, Noonan’s solicitors had informed the Crown Court that he was about to be extradited from Ireland and he was arrested on a warrant when he landed on British soil on May 29 last year.
He appeared back in the dock at York and admitted affray and breaching his bail by fleeing to Ireland.
Mr Hall said the gruesome stabbing occurred just before midnight on August 31, 2020.
Rabjohns, armed with a knife, burst into the victim’s home and stabbed him five times, wounding him in his stomach, buttocks, arm and leg.
The victim ran upstairs, shouted for help and called police. A neighbour heard the commotion and went outside where he saw a man run from the house and jump in the waiting car driven by Noonan.
The victim was taken to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough where he was treated for a deep wound to his stomach and other stab wounds to his body. He was discharged after the wounds were closed with sutures.
Rabjohns was arrested in the early hours of the following morning and Noonan was arrested two days later.
Rabjohns’ DNA was found at the scene of the attack and Noonan was incriminated by messages the two men had sent each other shortly after the attack.
In one of those messages, there was a conversation about getting hold of a thousand pounds to get Noonan out of the country.
In another message, Rabjohns told Noonan: “Bro, ring me and I’ll send you a grand.”
Whoever gave him the money, it was enough for Noonan to escape to Ireland.
His defence barrister Ian Whitehurst said that Noonan was addicted to drugs and alcohol at the time but had since turned his life around and had beaten his drink and drug habit.
He had made the “foolish decision to run away…to avoid justice” while out on bail but was otherwise a hard-working man and father-of-one.
Noonan had family connections in Ireland, but his last correspondence address was in London.
Judge Simon Hickey told Noonan: “You have evaded justice deliberately for some years.”
He told Noonan that he and Rabjohns had together targeted a man in his own home, causing “serious harm, distress and fear”.
The judge said there was “no doubt” that it was Rabjohns who attacked the victim, but that “both of you went to his home” and Noonan drove them there in Rabjohns’ car.
Mr Hickey acknowledged that Noonan had since turned his life around “dramatically”, but it had to be an immediate prison sentence for his part in an attack “on a man in his own home”.
Noonan was jailed for 20 months but was told he would serve less than half of that behind bars, less the amount of time he had spent on remand, before being released on prison licence.
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