A Chadwell Heath man planned a brutal ambush, which saw his drinking partner stabbed five times with a Rambo-style knife as his attackers attempted to rob him of £5,000.
Guy O'Neill, 22, of Burns Avenue, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years behind bars, alongside Lee O’Neill, 22 of Blackmore Road, Buckhurst Hill and Bartosz Bak, 22, of Valley Side, Chingford.
All three men were found guilty of attempted robbery, following a trial at the Old Bailey and were sentenced at the same court on February 4. Lee O’Neill and Bak were also found guilty of GBH and possession of an offensive weapon.
Detective Constable David Marnoch said: “This was an opportunist attack on an innocent man who was out celebrating.
"A chance meeting with Guy O’Neill led to a series of events which almost resulted in murder.
"His actions, in conceiving and planning the attack, and Lee O’Neill and Bak’s decision to follow the instructions and lay in wait for the victim before stabbing him, were abhorrent."
Guy O'Neill met the victim - a man in his 30s - on a night out in Chingford on September 14, 2017.
The man, who was known to Guy O'Neill, was celebrating the completion of a job and had around £5,000 on him.
He invited the man back to his then home in Willow Street, Chingford, where he asked where he lived and what route he would take to walk home.
Guy O'Neill contacted Lee O'Neill and told him the man was an easy target to rob, who passed the information on to Bak.
At around 2.40am, as the victim left to walk home, Guy O’Neill tipped off his two accomplices and directed them to a footbridge over a railway at Beresford Road.
As he approached, he was confronted by Lee O’Neill and Bak, who were armed with a Rambo-style knife. Although he managed to escape, he realised he had been stabbed five times and had to undergo life-saving surgery.
Lee O’Neill and Bak fled the scene, disposing of the knife as they ran.
Police investigating established a link between Guy O'Neill and the other two men after analysing phone data from the night of the attack.
Forensic analysis of the knife recovered near to the scene also proved a link to Lee O’Neill and Bak.
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