A PAIR of youths armed themselves with a machete and samurai sword then set about another man as he enjoyed a cigarette outside a Toothill tattoo parlour, a court heard.

One of the two, a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named as he is under 18, was sent down for two years and four months at Swindon Crown Court yesterday for what the judge labelled a “terrifying” daytime attack.

Prosecutor Michael Hall told the court the victim, then aged 18, had been enjoying a cigarette outside a barbershop and tattoo parlour in the Toothill village centre at lunchtime on October 8 last year.

The defendant and another man rolled up in a car, leaving it around the corner. The other man, who was armed with a samurai sword, approached the victim first – followed by the machete-wielding youth.

Their victim fled around the corner, leaving behind one of his sandals in the process. He was cornered outside the doors of Tesco, where CCTV showed the man fight back – trying to land kicks on his attackers.

The boy and the other man returned to the getaway car.

The pair’s victim, who declined to make a victim personal statement, suffered stab wounds to his back, arm and leg. Only one of the three stab wounds were landed by the boy in the dock on Friday. The victim’s injuries were sutured. He received 14 stitches.

Arrested by police, the defendant answered no comment to all questions put to him. The stabbing was committed whilst he was on bail for another matter.

Mr Hall said: “We don’t contend that it was a sustained assault but undoubtedly planned and determined but mercifully quick.”

The boy, who appeared in court via video link from a young offenders’ institution, pleaded guilty last year to wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon.

Emma Handslip, defending, said her client had learning disabilities and had experienced trauma earlier in his life. He was vulnerable, had repeatedly been reported missing between 2017 and 2019 and there were concerns that he had been exploited by older youths.

She told the court: “He is quite clearly somebody who was easily preyed upon.”

He had a supportive mother, was remorseful and had no previous convictions when the assault was carried out.

In a pre-sentence report he was deemed to be a high risk of serious harm to the public, particularly to his peers and rival gang members.

Judge Jason Taylor QC said he would have sentenced the boy to six-and-a-half years after trial had he been an adult. He reduced the sentence by 40 per cent to take account of his youth and gave him 25 per cent credit for his early guilty plea, bringing the sentence down to two years and four months’ in custody.

Sending the boy to custody, the judge said: “You approached another young male who was outside a tattoo shop where he was attending an appointment but he went outside to smoke a cigarette. He was therefore clearly targeted.

“You and your associate cornered him and launched what must have been an utterly terrifying attack for him when one could easily understand him fearing for his life, which is why he must have run around the corner even losing one piece of his footwear in the process.”