A violent Croydon man who attempted to stab a stranger in an unprovoked attack on a train has been jailed.

Paryce Duncan 24, and of Robert Street, pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon and attempted wounding with intent at Blackfriars Crown Court on August 2, following the shocking attack in April 2018.

Yesterday (August 8), the judge sentenced him to two years and nine months in prison.

On April 17 last year, shortly after midnight, the victim, a man in his twenties, was sat listening to music alone on a train from London Bridge to Norwood Junction.

Duncan approached him from behind and punched him to the back of the head, before asking him “do you want to die tonight?”

He went on to pull a pair of nail scissors from his pocket and lunged towards the victim’s neck, who thankfully managed to block Duncan’s forearm and deflect the impact.

The victim was able to call 999 and officers arrested Duncan at Norwood Junction station.

In his police interview, Duncan claimed he’d drunk a lot of Jack Daniels that night and couldn’t remember the incident.

British Transport Police Inspector Malcolm McCulloch said: “Had it not been for the quick reaction of the victim then this random and unprovoked attack could have had devastating consequences.

“We are lucky to police a CCTV rich environment and thanks to some excellent on board footage, along with valuable identification evidence, we were able to bring Duncan before the courts.

“His sentence clearly reflects the seriousness of the incident and I hope it serves as a strong reminder to any offenders that we simply will not tolerate violence on the railway.

“While this was a shocking attack, I would like to remind the public that unprovoked incidents such as this are thankfully extremely rare on the rail network.”