A teen boy threatened to “shank” an innocent motorist – despite being told the man’s two-year-old son was in the back of the car.

Jay Mapstone and Bradley Stacey, who were part of a group of up to 20 that had earlier been told off at McDonald’s, set about the driver with a pole and a baseball bat. Their victim was left with cuts around his eye.

The pair were at pains to say they had not assaulted the man in front of his child.

Judge Jason Taylor QC said the experience of seeing his father returning to the car covered in blood must have been very distressing for the innocent youngster.

But he spared the young men, who were 17 and 16 at the time, noting that the brawl took place more than two years ago and they were turning their lives around.

Earlier, prosecutor Chloe Griggs told Swindon Crown Court that Mapstone and his younger co-defendant Stacey were part of a group of around 15 to 20 young men that had gone to the McDonald’s at the Orbital, North Swindon, on April 12, 2019.

They were asked by staff to be quiet. Mapstone, who just weeks earlier had been given a youth court order, invited the staff members to fight him.

After they left the restaurant, Mapstone stopped by the open window of a BMW parked nearby. He accused the driver of saying something to him and offered to fight him.

The driver said he had a young child in the car and Mapstone told him to take the child home then return to fight him.

Ms Griggs said: “Things escalated rather quickly, the group surrounded the vehicle and Mr Mapstone put his hand down his waistband and said ‘I’ll f***ing shank you, bruv. I don’t give a f***. I’m strapped.’”

As the man tried to drive off, Stacey threw a stone at the car.

The victim stopped, got out his car and chased the boys. The bulk of the group fled, although Mapstone and Stacey remained. One of the boys struck the man with a pole and Stacey later used a bat to hit him in the hip. The victim was left with cuts to his face.

In a victim statement, the man said it was highly upsetting that the attack had happened when his son was in the car. A father was supposed to keep his child safe from the “nastiness in the world”, he said.

Emma Handslip, for Stacey, acknowledged her client’s poor record, which included a conviction for wounding with intent and more recently for pushing a PCSO. She said Stacey could react impulsively but was learning to manage his emotions. He did not want to keep returning to court, she said.

Chris Smyth, for Mapstone, said his client had been jailed for an affray committed after the April incident. He had turned his life around since becoming a father. Mr Smyth said the young man was the third generation of the Mapstone family he had represented: “What we are seeing now is as surprising as it is remarkable.”

Stacey, 18, of Stapleford Way, Penhill, admitted criminal damage and affray. He was sentenced to nine months’ detention suspended for two years with 175 hours of unpaid work, 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and a six month curfew.

Mapstone, 19, of Whitworth Road, Pinehurst, pleaded guilty to affray. He received 10 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years with 175 hours of unpaid work, 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and a six month curfew.

Judge Taylor said: “Had I been sentencing you nearer the time you’d have gone straight inside and you would have lost your liberty.” They had used the delay constructively and were growing up, he added.