The wannabe Northamptonshire teenage gangster jailed for eight years this week for kidnap and wounding

A wannabe Northamptonshire gangster who in the space of a year took part in a group stabbing before playing a hand in a kidnapping plot was jailed for eight year this week.

Derek Harris, from Corby, was only 16 when he took part in a gangland stabbing in Blackthorn that saw six young men team up and "take turns" slashing a 17-year-old boy with a knife.But less than a year later while he was on bail for the stabbing, the Corby thug took part in a plan to kidnap a vulnerable man and beat him into submission so he would go back to selling drugs for a county gang.

The two separate but shocking cases were heard at Northampton Crown Court on Friday (November 20) where Harris and his co-defendants in both attacks were jailed.

Towards midnight on February 18, 2019, a 16-year-old Harris and five other young men set out for Blackthorn in a taxi with a plan to find and brutally attack another teenager.

When they found their target, Harris and the others shoved him down between two cars before they all laid into him with punches, kicks and stomps.

The victim later told police: "I heard one of them say 'oi don't stab him'. Then I felt a sharp pain in my leg.

"One of them would stab, then they stepped back, then another stabbed me and then stepped back, and then another. It was like they were taking it in turns."

The gang broke up and ran after stabbing at their victim at least nine times. He was left to carry himself to a friend's house where the police were called.

Harris and another defendant, Oshayne Spencer - 20, from Corby - were found by a police helicopter later that night a mile from the scene. Two combat knives were also recovered nearby.

But, less than a year later and while on bail for the Blackthorn attack, Harris then took part in a terrifying kidnapping plot that ended with a vulnerable young man being tortured with boiling water.In the ordeal in January 2019, Harris and two others climbed into a couple's car where they threatened to stab them both if they didn't follow their orders.

The court heard in particular how Harris told the driver in the case: "You don't know who I am, I'm going to stab you, I'm going to stab you, I'm going to stab your girlfriend."

Over the course of four hours, Harris and his conspirators ordered the couple to drive from location to location in search of a vulnerable man who had tried to get away from them - but they had decided he owed them a drug debt, and planned to force him back into selling on the streets.

When they found their target, they dragged him into the car and took him to a house in Corby, where he was severely beaten and had boiling water poured on his hands as a perceived punishment for trying to get away.

However, because of the action of the driver in the case, the police arrived at the house soon after, and Harris and his co-defendants were arrested.

At Northampton Crown Court, Harris' defence barrister tried to argue that kidnapping incident had been "out of character" for the teenage thug.

In sentencing, His Honour Judge David Herbert said: "As well as being in a violent gang related incident you then, while you were in bail, kidnapped somebody and threatened them while armed with knives.

"Your criminal maturity is beyond your age.

"In my view you are dangerous... I must impose an extended sentence for the protection of the public."

Harris, who is now 18, was jailed for eight years, with an extended sentence of four years under probation when he is released.