Drug dealer jailed after slashing teen 'to the bone' with knife in mistaken identity attack

A 19-year-old has been jailed for 45-months after attacking a schoolboy with a "Rambo" knife, slashing him "to the bone" after mistaking him for a member of an adversary drug gang.

Fletcher Darnell, a convicted drug dealer residing on Calvert Drive, Basildon, Essex pursued the 15-year-old victim through Southend before striking him with the blade, cutting through to the bone of his elbow.

The teenager required several days of hospital treatment after the assault, according to reports by the Basildon Echo.

Sentencing Darnell at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Samantha Cohen told him: "You were embroiled in the thick of a criminal, gangster lifestyle. You regularly carried weapons."

The judge remarked that Darnell could easily have struck a different part of the boy's body, potentially inflicting far more serious harm.

The court heard the attack occurred one evening in January 2024, when Darnell was a passenger in a vehicle that stopped beside the victim and his friend.

Upon exiting the car, Darnell demanded to know whether the boy was "D Sav" - the street name of someone believed to be a gang rival.

Judge Cohen addressed Darnell directly about the encounter: "Neither he nor his friend was that person, but either you didn't realise or you didn't care about it, because you brandished your knife at them."

The judge continued: "You chased him and you then chopped him with a knife. The bit of him that you happened to hit was his elbow and you cut it to the bone."

The force of the blow was enough to fracture the bone beneath - far from Darnell's first involvement with knife crime.

Two years prior in 2022, he and an accomplice had held up two individuals at knifepoint during a robbery.

While Darnell wielded his blade, his co-defendant stabbed one of the victims - with Darnell dealt with in youth court and given a referral order.

His criminal record grew in 2024, when he appeared at Basildon Crown Court for dealing Class A drugs, resulting in a 15-month suspended sentence.

When police arrested him for the Southend machete attack, officers discovered he was carrying a sword.

His behaviour at the police station deteriorated further, turning violent towards officers and spitting in one's face, later admitting to assaulting an officer.

Darnell initially denied causing grievous bodily harm and possessing the sword, only changing his pleas to guilty in February this year after his trial had already commenced.

He appeared for sentencing via video link from Chelmsford Prison.

Defence barrister Claire Cooper argued her client represented hope for rehabilitation, but Judge Cohen rejected calls for a suspended sentence.

The judge explained that the offence carried a starting point of five years' imprisonment under sentencing guidelines, which increased to six years due to aggravating factors including the victim's age and Darnell's previous convictions.

However, sentencing rules required a one-third reduction, as Darnell was 17 when he committed the offence, with a further five per cent deducted for his eventual guilty plea.

Southend has suffered several incidents of gang violence and street brawls, most recently seeing two teenagers left in hospital with knife injuries after a mass brawl broke in February.