Teen gang member walks free after stabbing (From This Is Local London)

Youth sentenced for knife attack in Redlees Park, Isleworth

5:40pm Friday 11th December 2009 in Where I Live By Paul Teed

A 14-year-old gang member who viciously stabbed another teenager six times in the chest walked free from court today.

The youth, who can not be named for legal reasons, was bailed for robbery just two days before he repeatedly knifed the 15-year-old in Redlees Park, Isleworth.

He was only stopped when his friend pulled him away as he tried to stab him in the face. The young victim was left lying in a pool of blood with a knife wound just 7mm from his spine.

Police said they believed the 14-year-old, from Chiswick, used “extreme violence” to boost his status in the gang.

But Judge Hezlett Colgan, who refused an application from the Hounslow and Brentford Times to name the teenager, said today he was “impressed” with his progress on a rehabilitation programme, and sentenced him to a three-year supervision order.

He said: “I have to bear in mind that when all is said and done in this case you are still 14 years old.”

About 15 gang members turned up to the hearing at Isleworth Crown Court to greet the youth as he walked free.

The victim's mum said the attacker had “ruined my life and my son’s.”

Peter Lancaster, prosecuting, told the court the 14-year-old confronted the victim at about 4pm on June 17 before lunging at him with the knife.

He said: “You can see from the reports there are six stab wounds on the body and you can see that some of them are quite deep.

“One of them I understand only missed his spine by 7mm, and one just missed his kidney. If it hadn’t been for a friend of the victim who went to grab the defendant, he was going to stab the victim in the face.

“In fact he held him off and he was chased, and when he was being chased he got another knife out of his shoe area and said: ‘Come on, I do this for a living’.”

The bleeding victim crawled to safety before paramedics rushed him to hospital where he stayed for two days, the court heard.

Mr Lancaster added: “It goes without saying that these allegations, and particularly associations with gangs, it’s a particularly frightening experience for people to come forward in relation to allegations of crime.”

The youth pleaded guilty to the stabbing.

He also admitted breaking a 48-year-old man’s nose after punching him in McDonald’s, in Chiswick High Road, on January 26, and a knifepoint robbery on three boys in Chiswick on June 13.

Detective Sergeant Sarah Swift, of Hounslow CID, said: “The string of offences that this individual has been convicted of are somewhat appalling in nature.

“For someone of such a young age to use such extreme violence is an obvious concern. The devastation he has caused to the lives of his victims is reflected in the sentence he has been handed today.

“We have a strong belief that gang membership and elevation in status within that gang is one of the main reasons these offences took place.”

She added: “After our positive action, we are seeing signs of gang disassociation by their members.”

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