Life for knife boy

Teenage knife attacker Elias Cecchetti was ordered to be detained for life today.

Cecchetti, 16, was convicted of stabbing a woman jogger in Clissold Park, Stoke Newington, in an attack that left her fighting for her life.

Called Public Enemy No1 by police, he was wearing an electronic tag for a previous robbery.

In a separate incident, Cecchetti stabbed another boy within a centimetre of his heart.

At Maidstone Crown Court, Judge Warwick McKinnon, acting in the public interest, today lifted the order of anonymity that normally protects criminals of his age.

He said: "I must have full regard for the protection of the public. I have to ensure the public is protected against a person who has shown and demonstrated a propensity to commit almost routine acts of violence, and in some cases extreme violence.

"You present a picture of a 16-year-old who is really out of control. You have shown no regret or remorse. I come to the conclusion you are highly dangerous and very likely to repeat acts of serious violence."

Outside court DCI Ron Scott said: "Elias Cecchetti is without doubt the most dangerous juvenile I have ever encountered in my 28 years of service. He has proved to be a coldly calculating and callous individual whose complete disregard for others is extremely disturbing.

"I believe he was lying in wait for a victim in Clissold Park with the intention of harming somebody."

Cecchetti is known as "slasher" to his cronies in the Brownswood Park area of north London where he lived with his single mother.

His first police caution for carrying a kitchen knife came when he was 11. His other offences include wounding, threats to kill, burglary, criminal damage and assault.

He was 15 when he stabbed the jogger, a primary school teacher who has asked not to be named.

The 39-year-old woman suffered life-threatening injuries. The judge said the attack had had "a devastating physical and psychological effect on her, leaving her still suffering from post-traumatic stress".

After being arrested, Cecchetti phoned friends from Feltham Young Offender Institution "boasting" of what he had done.

Six weeks earlier, in September last year, Cecchetti had stabbed rival Curtis Byfield within a centimetre of his heart, leaving the 18-year-old convinced he was going to die.

After the attack on the school teacher Cecchetti, and a teenage friend, carried out two robberies in Stevenage stealing £40 from one victim and the mobile phone from a second. While in Feltham, Cecchetti was found to have nearly 1.5 grams of a heroin derivative in his cell.

In two trials earlier this year at the Old Bailey, Cecchetti was convicted of wounding the school teacher with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but cleared of attempted murder. He was convicted of the unlawful and malicious wounding of the 18-year-old but cleared of GBH.

Henry Blaxland QC, defending, told the court Cecchetti was suffering from "a very substantial emotional disturbance".

The judge told Cecchetti he would be eligible to apply for parole after four years but warned: "It may be very much longer before you are actually released."

He will remain on licence for the rest of his life.