WEBB:EIGHT YEARS FOR KNIFEMAN WHO STABBED TEEN IN ‘POSTCODE WAR’

A knifeman who repeatedly stabbed a teenager in a ‘postcode war’ was jailed for eight years today (Weds).

Andrew Webb, 21, attacked the 17-year-old victim because he came from the ‘wrong area’ in a street brawl involving up to 50 people.

The victim was left with knife wounds to his stomach, chest, and back after being pinned to a shop front and stabbed by Webb.

He had earlier been kicked, punched and attacked with bottles by a gang of hooded youths outside Efes Pool Club and Bar in Stoke Newington High Street, north London, where he had been celebrating his 17th birthday.

Kyle Alleyne, 22, Kjell Henry, 20, were locked up today (weds) for their roles in the fight.

CCTV showed both men to be part of a mob that pounced on the 17-year-old and Alleyne was clearly seen attempting to hit the victim with a glass bottle in the early hours of January 4, 2011.

Giving evidence during the six day trial the victim told Snaresbrook Crown Court he believed he was knifed because he was ‘from a different area’.

Sentencing today (weds), Judge Murray Shanks said the apparent reason for the stabbing was ‘absurd’.

He said: ‘I do not know what he did to you; he was possibly just from the wrong postcode.

‘Isn’t that absurd, that he was in the wrong postcode and he ends up getting stabbed.’

Jailing Webb today, Judge Shanks said: ‘You inflicted three stab wounds to the torso of that victim, you were in a group, it was at night, it was in the street and you were drunk.

‘There is no reasonable explanation for what you did and it may be gang-related.

‘It was an extraordinary thing that you were going around stabbing someone causing serious injury.

‘It still hurts when he breathes because you punctured his lung.

‘You could have killed him easily.’

The teenage victim, from Tottenham, was first approached inside the pool club and asked where he was from.

Giving evidence from behind a screen he replied when asked why he had been attacked: ‘Perhaps because I was from a different area.’

During the trial the jury was then shown CCTV footage taken outside Efes which showed dozens of youths milling around outside the club before a fight can be seen breaking out.

Prosecutor Tim Forster said Alleyne, in a distinctive baseball jacket with white sleeves, can be seen hitting the teenager with a bottle at one point.

The footage shows the victim run from one side of the street to another pursued by the gang members before he is forced against a shop window and stabbed and the youths flee the scene.

Mr Forster said the teenager was eventually dragged to safety by his friends and taken to a nearby supermarket where the police were called.

He said: ‘He had a wound to his stomach, another to his left chest, below his nipple and another wound to his back.

‘At least one of the wounds had been deep enough to puncture one of his lungs.’

During the trial Alleyne admitted being at the scene of the fight but claimed they had acted in self-defence and in defence of others after the violence broke out.

Lawyers for Henry claimed he had not been involved in the brawl though he had been present at the time, though Henry did not give evidence in person.

Alleyne, of (25) Shernhall Street, Walthamstow, and Henry, also of (26) Shernhall Street, were convicted unanimously of violent disorder.

Alleyene was jailed for 20 months, while Henry, who is currently serving two years for a separate conviction for violent disorder, was given a ten month consecutive sentence of detention.

Webb, of (Flat 2) Butfield House, Stevens Avenue, Hackney, admitted wounding with intent to commit grievous bodily harm and possession of cannabis.

A 16-year-old boy convicted of violent disorder alongside Alleyne and Henry will be dealt with next week because a pre-sentence report was not ready.