A teenager has been sentenced by a judge after weapon-wielding masked youngsters carried out an attack in Keswick.
Carlisle Crown Court heard a male cyclist was initially involved in a short-lived verbal exchange in a town area known as the line on the evening of November 29, 2020.
Hands were shaken but the three young men he had seen — aged 16, 17 and 20 — returned, wearing masks and carrying weapons.
The victim declined to fight. But, after trying to flee, he was ordered on to his knees and attacked by two gang members.
“I was in fear of not seeing my family at this point as I thought they were going to kill me,” he later said.
His bike was stolen, he suffered bruising across his body and, in an impact statement, described being in total shock.
Joshua Jackson, now 18, inflicted no violence, but admitted affray having been the third member of the gang. He was sentenced today.
College student Jackson worked for his family’s campsite business and had never been in trouble before, the court heard.
He received a two-year community order which includes a three-month night time curfew, community service and rehabilitation work.
“You should have known better but you didn’t,” Judge Nicholas Barker told Jackson, of Castlerigg Hall, near Keswick.
“The people of Keswick, whether they are victims…or whether they be simply passers-by, are not to be subjected to this level of hooliganism, violence, threats with weapons.
“It is an appalling act of behaviour and will not be tolerated.”
The 16-year-old admitted affray and was sentenced at a youth court earlier this year.
The 20-year-old has admitted actual bodily harm and theft and will be punished in due course.
