Man jailed for life after brutal knife attacks on two elderly women in Oldham

A man who carried out a brutal knife attack on two elderly women has today been jailed.

Jayden Hayes, 24, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 14 years at Manchester Crown Court, after pleading guilty to two counts of attempted murder.

He will remain on licence for life should he ever be released.

Hayes carried out the attacks in the Derker area of Oldham during November 2019, searching for lone female victims while riding his bike at night

When  he was arrested, examinations of his phone showed Hayes had been searching for information about knife attacks and serial killers.

He is said to have developed an obsession with blades through watching videos on YouTube, searching terms such as ‘stabbings in the UK’ and ‘man stabbed 18 times in 25 seconds on train.

On 1 November, 2019 Hayes was cycling along Sharples Hall Road at 6.20pm when he rode past his first victim, Joy Clarke, 61, who was returning home with her tea after visiting a fish and chip shop.

Hayes got off his bike and ran back up behind the woman before stabbing her to the side of the head.  While she lay on the ground Hayes inflicted further stab wounds including to her face, head, and chest, narrowly missing the heart.

In court, miss Clarke read a statement saying: “I wonder why my attacker did this to me.”

This attack took place just 90 minutes after Hayes appeared in  magistrates ‘s court where he was granted bail for an unrelated offence.

The second attack occurred just before 6pm on 20 November, 2020.

The victim, a 71-year-old woman, was walking along an alleyway linking Stoneleigh Street to Yates Street on her way to a newsagent on London Road.

Hayes entered the alleyway from the other side. He walked past the woman before approaching her from behind and using a knife to cut her throat.

Despite the victim wearing a scarf and thick coat fastened about her neck, the force was such that the knife cut through the material and left a four-inch wound across the width of her throat.

His second victim says she still experiences panic attacks and flashbacks to the attack.

Police were able to link Hayes to the attack using CCTV and phone evidence.

Detective Inspector Ben Cottam of GMP’s Major Investigations Team said: “Hayes is a cold and cowardly violent offender.

“Throughout both attacks, he remained silent and made no threats or demands of his victims.

“His crimes were of someone who seemingly wanted to inflict the maximum degree of hurt, simply for the sake of it.

“If not for the hard work of our officers I dread to think where Hayes’ escalating pattern of offending would have led.

“Thankfully we were able to identify Hayes and remove from our streets a clearly very dangerous individual before anyone else was hurt.

“It is because of the work of the emergency services and the remarkable strength of these two women that these attacks didn’t result in the loss of life.

“I’d like to thank them for their immense bravery during this investigation and subsequent court case. I hope it gives them a degree of closure that this man will remain behind bars for a considerable period.”

Defending him in court, Keith Sutton said Hayes wished to apologise to those affected by his crimes.

He said Hayes had been a ‘very different person’ before he started taking drugs.