A teenage thug has been locked up after he led a gang attack on another youth in a town centre.

Paul Ojo ran at Thomas Bonniface from behind in Chatham High Street, punched him and then kicked him while he was on the ground, as others filmed it on their phones.

The attack was caught on CCTV. Officers from the Medway Criminal Investigation Department circulated images of Ojo and he was later identified by the Metropolitan Police.

The victim did not support the prosecution.

The 19-year-old student, who had previously been given several youth rehabilitation orders for offences, was sentenced to 18 months youth custody for assault causing actual bodily harm.

A judge told him his depressing history of offending “suggests a young man, now an adult, who has been, and remains, out of control, quite unwilling to conform to social norms”.

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC added that the CCTV footage of the violence was “horrifying” to watch.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the victim was on his own and vulnerable on April 10 when Ojo launched the attack.

He suffered displaced fractures to his nose, a suspected fractured cheekbone and tissue damage to his face.

“On any view, this must have been a terrifying experience for him, the kind liable to have psychological or emotional effects that can extend for some time,” the judge told Ojo.

“This was a sustained assault on a victim who was vulnerable. You played a leading role.

You used the equivalent of a weapon by kicking him.

“You plainly targeted him because he was vulnerable and alone. Plainly, it was premeditated because you chose to run in from a distance and attack him.

“There is aggravation by the fact it was a brazen offence in public. At the time you had a number of previous convictions - eight appearances for 13 offences.”

They included two of robbery, possessing cannabis with intent to supply, possessing a knife and another offence of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Ojo’s lawyer urged the court to suspend the sentence so that the teenager could continue his college education.

But Judge Griffith-Jones said Ojo, of Barnfield Road, St Mary Cray, had spurned offers of support in the past and when interviewed by the probation service he maintained he had no previous convictions.

“You have shown no insight into the implications of your actions and no empathy for your victim,” he said. “There is no mitigation save for your guilty plea.”