Man sentenced to 4½ years for stabbing at Flamingo Land

A Middlesbrough man has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for a stabbing that left a holidaymaker fighting for his life at a North Yorkshire theme park last year. Joshua Donnelly, 22, pleaded guilty to Section 18 wounding with intent and was sentenced at York Crown Court on Friday, June 12.

The attack occurred shortly after 1 a.m. on September 18, 2025, at the Flamingo Land Resort near Pickering. Donnelly, who was engaged in a domestic dispute with his partner, took a four-inch black-handled knife from a caravan's kitchen drawer. A 38-year-old man from the Scottish Borders, who was on a family holiday and staying in a neighboring caravan, intervened in an attempt to calm the situation. Donnelly then stabbed the man three times in the abdomen.

The victim required emergency ambulance transport to a hospital for surgery to treat a punctured colon. As police responded to the scene, Donnelly fled the holiday park. Later that day, officers intercepted a vehicle he was traveling in beyond the Cleveland Police border. He was arrested and taken into custody in Scarborough for questioning.

A critical piece of evidence was recovered when a gardener at the park found the...