Boy, 16, known as Slasher is jailed for life for stabbing female jogger

A "calculating and callous" teenager was given a life sentence yesterday for two terrifying knife attacks, including one on a woman jogging in a park.

A "calculating and callous" teenager was given a life sentence yesterday for two terrifying knife attacks, including one on a woman jogging in a park.

Elias Cecchetti - then aged 15 - chased a woman, who cannot be named, through Clissold Park in Stoke Newington, north London, after stabbing her in the attack last December. The victim, aged 39, was only saved by the quick actions of a doctor who happened to be pushing a pram in the park.

Cecchetti, who revelled in his nickname "Slasher", was electronically tagged at the time and had first been cautioned for carrying a knife when aged 11.

He was cleared of attempting to murder the primary school teacher at a trial at the Old Bailey in April, but was found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

At a second trial at the Old Bailey in July, he was found not guilty of wounding a 17-year-old boy with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but convicted of unlawfully wounding him.

Cecchetti - now aged 16 - stood impassively in the dock at Maidstone Crown Court as he was sentenced yesterday.

Judge Warwick McKinnon said he would serve a life term for the "brutal" and "premeditated" Clissold Park attack and two counts of robbery, and a concurrent two-and-a-half-year sentence for the attack on the boy.

The judge also lifted a court order banning the press from naming Cecchetti, who will serve at least four years before being considered for release.

The Clissold Park victim had gone for a jog when she noticed someone standing under a willow tree. After she went past him, he said: "I will get you on your next lap."

Sally O'Neill QC, for the prosecution, told the court yesterday that the female victim was terrified by his threat but decided to confront him. As she moved towards Cecchetti she felt a blow to her body. "She thought she was punched on the left side of her stomach - which was, in fact, the upward thrust of a large knife."

She managed to break free and ran in the direction of a woman with two babies - one a seven-week-old strapped to her chest - with Cecchetti behind her shouting, "I am going to get you next time." But he had disappeared by the time she reached Anne Soloman, a doctor on maternity leave, who called an ambulance and helped to stem the bleeding.

Cecchetti told a friend about the stabbing the next day and asked him to take his jacket and a rucksack containing the knife. He also made phone calls boasting about the stabbing while he was on remand, Ms O'Neill said.

Detective Chief Inspector Ron Scott said Cecchetti was the most dangerous juvenile he had encountered in a 28-year career. "He has proved to be a calculating and callous individual whose complete disregard for others is extremely disturbing."

The teenaged victim was attacked with a kitchen knife in a stairwell near the flat where Cecchetti was living on 17 September last year. The boys had been good friends, but had fallen out because Cecchetti believed the victim had stolen his hat.

Cecchetti has more than a dozen convictions for offences such as assault, causing actual bodily harm, using threatening language and behaviour, and possession of an offensive weapon. He entered guilty pleas to two street robberies in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

He was electronically tagged as part of his sentence for assault and battery by a juvenile court in October last year, and last month also admitted possessing 1.45 grams of heroin with intent to supply while on remand at Feltham young offenders institution.

Cecchetti's barrister, Henry Blaxland QC, said his client was an "emotionally unstable" only child whose father had left when he was very young.