Violent Scarborough duo jailed for attempted machete attack on man in Eastfield

Ben Collins, 25, from All Saint Roads, and Samuel Nicholson, 25, from Trafalgar Road, pleaded guilty at York Crown Court on October 31 to possessing an offensive weapon, affray and attempted kidnap.

They were remanded in custody until the sentencing hearing.

A third suspect in the investigation, Jacob Jankowski (also known as Jakub), 21, from Overdale, Eastfield, pleaded guilty on October 30 to encouraging and assisting in the commission of an indictable only offence at York Crown Court.

He was sentenced to a Community Order and ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work.

At around 10pm on Saturday April 19 2025, the victim - a local man in his 20s - was directed to an address in Eastfield.

Upon arrival, two men wearing hazmat suits, dark gloves and carrying machetes got out of a silver Ford Fiesta and moved towards the address.

The victim managed to run away, and the suspects got back into the Fiesta and drove off.

Despite Collins and Nicholson's intention to cause serious wounding to the victim, the victim managed to escaped uninjured.

As the investigation progressed, it transpired that this was a case of mistaken identity, and the victim wasn't the intended target.

Shockingly, a member of the public later located the two large machete-style knives in a black bin liner and two white hazmat suits stuffed into bushes in their front garden.

Communications between Collins and Jankowski clearly showed the collusion between the two men, and the planning it took to lure the victim to the location where he could be attacked.

Through the investigation, it was discovered that Nicholson had bought the white suits and gloves in the days previous to the incident.

This further highlighted to investigators that Nicholson and Collins' intent was on causing serious harm to the victim, by pre-empting they'd need protective clothing that could be disposed of.

Detective Constable Alfie Thomlinson, from Scarborough and Ryedale CID, said: "This was an audacious attempt to cause significant harm to the victim.

"However, their downfall wasn’t just the speed of the victim in running away, it was also luring the wrong person to the scene of their crime and leaving a trail of breadcrumb evidence which led to them soon being identified, arrested, charged and remanded into custody.

"The street they lured their wrong victim to is a relatively quiet street in Eastfield with several young families living on it, but it was the monstrous and disgusting actions of these men that changed this and brought terror and violence to the local community.

"This behaviour and actions simply will not be tolerated here in North Yorkshire and detectives will work hard to track perpetrators down and bring them to justice."