Life for the thug who plunged 5in blade in boy's skull

A TEENAGE thug who left a five-inch blade embedded in a schoolboy's skull was locked up for life today.

Yassin Elmansouri, 17, was convicted of attempted murder and stabbing two other youths outside a Tesco store in the Old Kent Road, Walworth, in November last year.

X-ray images showed how a 15-year-old, named only as Ahmed, was stabbed through the forehead with the bendy kitchen knife.

The blade embedded in his brain but he survived and enrolled for a college course 10 months later. Had anyone tried to pull it out he would have died.

Judge Colin Smith sentenced Elmansouri at Inner London crown court to life detention and ordered he serve a minimum of seven years before his earliest possible release. He will remain on licence for life.

The judge said: "Despite your youth and lack of previous convictions I have to regard your conviction for the attempted murder of Ahmed as an extremely grave offence.

"The circumstances graphically illustrate the consequences which can follow from the production and use of a knife and the catastrophic effect such a crime can have on a victim."

Ahmed, who is now 16, had tried to stop his friends being robbed by Elmansouri and two others.

He was taken to Guy's Hospital with the blade still lodged in his skull. Only the skill of surgeons saved his life and last month he admitted he was "lucky to be alive". One of his friends was stabbed twice in the back and another was wounded in the shoulder.

Elmansouri dropped his hat and mobile phone when fleeing the scene. The items were recovered and forensic testing linked them to him. He was arrested at his south London home in December.

Elmansouri had denied attempted murder and two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

He was given concurrent terms of three and a half years for the two GBH counts. Detectives are still hunting the other two attackers.

In a statement read to the court Ahmed described how the horrific attack had left him fearful and unable to enjoy the sports he had once loved.

"The attack has made me more paranoid, and more wary about being in a similar situation again," he said.

"I am not able to play sport, or run around as I could before."