A KNIFEMAN who tried to mug a man in a York street is today starting a five-and-a half-year jail sentence.

The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman said Guy David Osguthorpe, 31, had repeatedly swung a four or five-inch blade towards his victim, Shaun Gyte, before stabbing him in the thigh.

"It must have been a terribly frightening experience for him," said the judge. "It matters not whether it was an attempted robbery or a successful one."

He jailed Osguthorpe for four years for the mugging, added two months for failure to attend his trial and ordered him to serve 16 months of an earlier sentence from which he had been released early just weeks before the robbery.

Osguthorpe, of Bramham Avenue, Acomb, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and wounding after he was arrested on a bench warrant issued by the trial judge.

York Crown Court heard that he had previous convictions for violence and three convictions for possessing a weapon.

Updated: 10:12 Saturday, August 31, 2002