A man who stabbed a cyclist and left him with life-threatening injuries has been jailed.

The victim was cycling along Third Avenue, Harlow, having left the town centre on July 22, 2019, when he came across a group of men arguing with another man.

Liam Lincoln, the attacker, turned to the cyclist after the other man ran away and stabbed the victim in the stomach unprovoked.

Lincoln and the two men he was with ran off, leaving the victim bleeding.

Later on a passer-by found the victim and flagged down a passing ambulance.

Police searched Lincoln’s home the following day but could not find him, but eventually CCTV traced him staying at an address with the same group.

The 23-year-old, of Red Willow, Harlow, later presented himself to Harlow Police Station and was arrested on suspicion of GBH with intent.

He pleaded not guilty at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court on August 19, 2020.

On Friday this year (April 22) he received a total of seven years and nine months in prison.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Anne-Marie Hardingham said: “Liam Lincoln has never said why he attacked his victim, and he has not faced up to what he did that day.

“He left a man so badly injured he needed weeks in hospital to recover.

“Hopefully, the victim can put this behind him now that Liam Lincoln is rightly behind bars.”