Teenage knife attacker's sentence 'too lenient' (From This Is Local London)

Teenage knife attacker's sentence 'too lenient', Solicitor General declares, as case is sent to Court of Appeal

6:50am Friday 15th January 2010 in Where I Live Exclusive By Paul Teed

The sentence of a 14-year-old gang member who walked free from court after viciously stabbing another teenager six times in the chest will go to the Court of Appeal.

Solicitor General Vera Baird referred the case as a “possible unduly lenient sentence”, her office confirmed.

Judge Hezlett Colgan gave the youth a three-year supervision order at Isleworth Crown Court on December 11 last year. He also banned the Hounslow and Brentford Times from naming the teenager.

The court heard how the thug was bailed for robbery just two days before he repeatedly knifed a 15-year-old in Redlees Park, Isleworth on June 17 last year.

He only stopped when his friend pulled him away as he tried to stab the boy 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.

Judge Colgan told the teenager in court: “It’s fortunate that you are not answering a murder charge because that’s very likely what could have happened if your attack had continued.

“You must realise as you do that what you have done is very wrong and very serious. What I have to say to you today is this, had you been older you would be losing your liberty for a very long time.”

The youth had earlier pleaded guilty to the stabbing.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “We got the sentencing result, had a look at the case ourselves, and decided to send it across [to the Attorney General].”

A spokeswoman for the Solicitor General, deputy of Attorney General Patricia Scotland, said she referred the case to the Court of Appeal last Friday.

She said: “They can take anything between one and three months to be listed to the Court of Appeal to be heard.”