A pair of brothers will spend at least the next eight years of their lives behind bars after stabbing a teenager in Lewisham

The 16-year-old victim was attacked by a group of men after getting off a bus in the Lee High Road area in September last year.

The teenager then fled to Cressingham Road where police and paramedics found him suffering from a stab wound to the shoulder, although his injuries were deemed to be not life-threatening or life-changing.

At a hearing on February 26 at Woolwich Crown Court, Ardit Sokoli, 20 and Marcel Sokoli, 18, both of Hither Green, were found guilty of the attack.

On April 6 at the same court, the pair were sentenced to 12 years jail, of which they must serve at least two-thirds; both were ordered that they must serve seven years on license upon release.

Detective Constable James Farrimond, of the Trident and Area Crime Command, led the investigation.

He said: “Now more than ever we need sentences like this to deter youths from carrying knives.

“Thankfully this was not a fatal incident, but it is just as needless and alarming.

"Now these two brothers will spend some of the best years of their lives in prison when they could have done so many other positive things.

"I would urge any youth concerned in carrying a knife to think whether this is what they want to happen to them.”