Two teenagers have been jailed after a 20-year-old was stabbed and killed.

Thomas Waugh was sitting on a bench with two friends in Tonbridge Racecourse Park during the early hours of August 19 last year when they were approached by two people they didn’t know.

Rocco Mustafa, 18, who was holding a Rambo knife, and Reece Willis, 17, threatened them and demanded they hand over their mobile phones.

The victims attempted to negotiate with the pair until Thomas said he would instead pay them some cash and ran from the scene.

In Thomas’ absence, his two friends, fearing violence, surrendered a gold chain, a packet of cigarettes and £5 in cash.

At this point, Thomas returned holding a stick and caused a distraction to allow his friends to escape.

He then ran towards Avebury Avenue pursued by the offenders who caught up with him in a car park, where he was stabbed in the torso by Mustafa.

His friends, concerned for him, returned to find him and saw a member of the public giving first aid until the arrival of paramedics. Following further treatment, Thomas died at the scene.

Detectives were able to prove that Mustafa, of Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon, called his mother, Claire White, on his mobile phone soon after the incident and that she travelled to Tonbridge to collect him.

But due to the presence of a large number of police officers in the town she returned home and instead collected him the following morning.

An investigation was launched by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate and inquiries by detectives swiftly identified Mustafa and Willis as responsible for Thomas’ death. They were both arrested on August 21.

Two days later, the Crown Prosecution Service authorised a charge of murder for both of them. They were also charged with two robberies and an attempted robbery.

White was also arrested on August 21 and later charged with assisting an offender.

On January 27, Mustafa, from south London, appeared before Maidstone Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to all the charges.

Willis, of Barden Park Road, Tonbridge, entered not guilty pleas but was convicted on Tuesday, April 11, of all the charges, including murder, following a trial at Maidstone Crown Court.

White, also of Chipstead Valley Road, Coulsdon, who had pleaded not guilty to assisting an offender was also convicted on the same date.

Today (July 21), 18-year-old Mustafa was sentenced to a total of 18 years and 215 days' imprisonment, 17-year-old Willis was jailed for 14 years and 33 days and White, 48, received three years imprisonment.

Senior investigating officer, DCI Neil Kimber, said: “This was a shocking incident in which a young man lost his life due to his concerns for the safety of his friends.

“His brave efforts contrast starkly with the criminal actions of two teenagers intent on violence.

“Their appalling behaviour has left a family mourning the needless loss of a much-loved young man with his future in front of him. The conduct of Mustafa’s mother was also deplorable and she should be thoroughly ashamed of her actions.

“I can only hope the sentences allow the victim’s relatives and friends some closure following Thomas’ tragic death.”

Now the family of victim Tom Waugh, 20, are planning to recruit MPs to help change the law and prevent "Rambo'' knives being able to be bought online.

Before being taken away to begin their sentences, the victim's mother told the judge: "There are no words. That is what so many people have said.

"There is nothing anyone can say or do to make it better and there never will be. Losing your child is beyond grief, beyond words, the worst thing that could happen in your life.

"There is a huge gaping hole in our family where Tom should be, a wound that will never heal. We are bereft, devastated – our hearts completely broken."

Tom's brother Dan added: "When I read the message on my phone that Tom had been stabbed, my heart sank.

"I ran out of the house, through the town in the hope that I could help him.

"But when I turned the corner of the library and saw him lying there, lifeless, I knew there was nothing that I or anyone else could do to help him."