Teenagers jailed for Peterborough play park knife attacks

The attack happened at the play area in Century Square, Peterborough, on 31 May 2022

Five teenagers from Peterborough have been jailed for at least seven years each after a knife attack at a play area which left two people seriously wounded.

The attack happened in the city's Century Square on 31 May 2022.

Rudolf Gregor, 19, Patrick Tavera, 18, Samba Balde, 18, were jailed for between 16 years and 19 and a half years for attempted murder.

Amadu Djalo, 18, and Milan Pollak, 19, were jailed for assault with intent.

Cambridgeshire Police said one of the victims, an 17-year-old boy, ended up with an arterial bleed to his arm and two puncture wounds to his back that required emergency surgery.

The other victim, an 18-year-old man, also required emergency surgery for multiple puncture wounds to legs, buttocks, back, internal organs and neck.

Police said that just minutes before the attack Gregor, of Midland Road in West Town, and Tavera, of Tyesdale in Bretton, went into a convenience store in Lincoln Road and bought three kitchen knives.

From left to right: Amadu Djalo, Milan Pollack, Patrick Tavera, Rudolf Gregor and Samba Balde

Tavera placed one of the knives in his jacket pocket and the five walked towards the Alma Road area, with Balde, of Bringhurst in Orton Goldhay, carrying the other two knives in a plastic bag.

At 17:42 BST, the group were seen on CCTV entering the Century Square park where Tavera, Balde and Gregor, who were also found guilty of possessing bladed articles, stabbed the two males.

The five denied the offences, but were convicted following a five-week trial at Cambridge Crown Court, where the following jail sentences have been handed down:

• Gregor - 19 years and six months

• Tavera - 16 years

• Balde - 19 years

• Djalo, of Hampton Court, Hampton - seven years and three months

• Pollak, of Shakespeare Avenue, New England - seven years

Gregor's sentence also including two offences of possession with intent to supply cocaine and heroin, after he was found with £900 worth of drugs in Broadway in the city centre in 2021.

Det Con Lloyd Davis said: "This was an incredibly complex case which was sheer luck that it didn't end up as a murder investigation.

"A conflict has resulted in two young men being so close to losing their lives, and five now spending their next years in prison."

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