A teenager who repeatedly stabbed a rival gang member in the garden of his home has been locked up for eight years.

Wearing a bandana over his mouth, Jessie Henry knifed Lewis Dilallo, 17, in the same Medway street where Kyle Yule, 17, was fatally stabbed.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Henry – said to be “bright” having passed GCSEs - belonged to the Chatham C4 gang and Mr Dilallo to the Gillingham G10 gang.

Under an extended sentence, Henry will have to serve two thirds of the term and will be on licence for a further two years.

A judge told him: “This was a sustained attack. I note you have not shown any remorse or insight into your crime.”

Prosecutor Ben Irwin said there was bad blood between the teenagers before the attack happened in East Street in Gillingham.

Six months earlier, Henry, 18, made threats outside Medway Magistrates’ Court telling Mr Dilallo he would “shank” (stab) him in front of his mother Nicola Ritchie

Then on July 30 last year, Mrs Ritchie heard frantic banging on her door and saw the two youths wrestling outside.

A neighbour later told police he saw Henry stab the victim five or six times in the stomach, arms and back. A boy, aged nine, also witnessed the violence.

Henry, then 17, told two masked friends as he waved the weapon around: “We got him good now and he isn’t going to run his mouth any more.”

Mrs Ritchie managed to pull her bleeding son inside and call an ambulance.

“He was stabbing my son’s back,” she said. “I pulled them apart. I was trying to pull Lewis back from him.

“I wanted to split them up and get him inside. I was able to take him inside. The male got up and jumped over my wall and ran up the road.”

Mrs Ritchie said her son lay on the sofa and told her: “He stabbed me.”

“I think he was shocked more than anything,” she added. “He was panicking. I saw a massive hole in his back. He was bleeding a lot.”

She later picked Henry out of an identification procedure.

Mr Dilallo, who refused to cooperate with police or support the prosecution, was treated for wounds to his right wrist, stomach, left upper arm, lower back, left shoulder blade and just below the left armpit.

When police searched Henry’s home the next day they found pictures on his mobile phone of him in various poses.

One text message to him said: “I hear you whacked him up.” Henry replied: “Ye.”

Henry, of Chamberlain Road, Chatham, denied wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but was convicted.

He did not give evidence. When interviewed by police he said: “I wasn’t there. No comment.”

Henry was on bail at the time for affray, having chased a man while brandishing a Samurai sword into a shop in April last year. CCTV footage from it was found on his phone.

He also had convictions for possessing cannabis and assaulting a paramedic.

Judge Adele Williams said of the attack on Mr Dilallo: “The consequences were not as grave as they might have been but there was repeated stabbing to various parts of the body and must be regarded as serious in the context of the offence.

“It is good fortune the wounds were not more serious than they were. This was motivated by gang rivalry.”

The judge said she had very much in mind Henry’s welfare and the desire to prevent offending in future.

“In all the evidence before me you are mature for your age and street wise,” said Judge Williams. “Despite your young age I have come to the conclusion that you do pose a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public by committing serious offences.”

“It is good fortune the wounds were not more serious than they were. This was motivated by gang rivalry" - Judge Adele Williams

She added that if Henry had been an adult the sentence would have been 12 years.

Melanie Krudy, defending, said the attack happened quickly but submitted it was not a sustained assault and there were no serious injuries.

Henry, she said, was brought up in Belgium before moving to Hull after his parents parted.

“He was doing OK, he was bright,” said Miss Krudy. “He obtained GCSEs.”

The teenager was expelled from college after being accused of a sex offence, which turned out to be unfounded and had a terrible effect on him.

“He doesn’t agree he is part of gang culture. There is hope for him in the future. I ask that an extended sentence is not imposed.”