A TEENAGER was sentenced to five years youth custody today for stabbing another youth in a revenge attack.

Paul Smith left Andrew Coffield with a serious chest wound which has caused lasting damage to his right arm.

A judge told Smith: “Had the blade landed elsewhere he could have died, in which case you could be facing a life sentence for murder.”

Maidstone Crown Court heard how Smith, of Frindsbury Road, Frindsbury, went home and grabbed the knife after being beaten up by about four youngsters.

“This is an 18-year-old who had taken a horrendous beating that night,” said his lawyer David Pickersgill.

Smith was on December 13 last year asked by a youth if his name was Michael Smith. He replied that it was Paul Michael Smith.

He was then punched to the floor and, realising he was going to get a further beating, curled up in a ball using his arms to try to protect his head.

Mr Pickersgill said the attack lasted a few minutes, but it felt like 10. He was kicked in the face and back of the head.

After collecting a knife with an 8in blade, Smith went and found Mr Coffield, also 18, in Church Street, Gillingham, and plunged it into his body.

He was to later say he had stabbed his victim five times, but it was not that many, said Jonathan Higgs, prosecuting.

Mr Coffield’s arm was damaged so that it would not straighten properly. He said in an impact statement read to the court that he had to constantly wear a support and could not work.

Mr Pickersgill said a nurse noted after the attack that Smith, who admitted wounding with intent, was tearful and suicidal. He kept repeating that he was scared and panicked.

“I couldn’t do anything against three or four of them,” he said. “I just panicked. I know I should not have done it.”

Mr Pickersgill said when Smith came too from the assault on him he lost his temper, adding: “He saw red and lost control. He had been drinking all day and was heavily intoxicated.”

Smith’s girlfriend Lisa Giles was expecting his baby at the end of July. “His ambition now is to put this behind him and rebuild his life with Lisa and their new baby girl,” said Mr Pickersgill.

Judge Andrew Patience, QC, said Smith had been bent on retaliation and revenge, inflamed by drink.

Mr Coffield had lost 20 per cent of the use of his arm and a surgeon said it was impossible to know how much sensation and use he would recover.

“It may be he has sustained an injury which will stay with him for the rest of his life, whereas when you are released you will have no lasting injuries,” the judge told Smith.

“This has been a worry for me because I have to have in mind that you are a young man. There must be a substantial custodial sentence. It means you won’t be around when your baby is born. I am sorry about that.”