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Friday, October 24, 2008, 09:02
At Exeter Crown Judge Graham Cottle lifted the reporting ban on naming 17-year-old Martin Jennings and said: "He has been looked at by the courts as the number one menace in the city."
Jennings, of no fixed address but from Torquay, had pleaded not guilty to wounding Daniel Pollington with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm but was convicted by the jury.
Judge Cottle remanded him in custody while a pre-sentence report is prepared and said such a report should address the issue of the risk Jennings posed to the public.
During the trial, the jury heard that Jennings had been banned from the Guildhall Shopping Centre in Exeter because he had been involved in the burglary of a National Lottery booth in the arcade.
He was spotted on the premises by a security supervisor watching the closed circuit surveillance screens.
Mr Pollington was dispatched to tell Jennings to leave the shopping mall but before he could say anything, the teenager pulled out a knife and lunged at him.
A scuffle ensued with the security guard grabbing Jennings and then taking hold of the blade of the knife to stop himself being seriously injured.
However in the melee that followed, Mr Pollington sustained a severe cut to his ear which required five stitches and a cut to his finger which needed two stitches.
The jury heard that while the pair were on the ground fighting, Jennings called to his girlfriend to kick the security guard and then get her own knife out of her handbag.
Mr Pollington said the girl kicked him in the private parts but he did not see a second knife. However before help arrived, the girl ran off with his radio.
Jennings was then restrained until the police turned up to arrest him. He claimed that he had only used the knife because Mr Pollington had grabbed hold of him first.
He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful wounding but that was not accepted by the Crown. He also admitted burgling the lottery booth.
After the jury verdict on the more serious charge, Jennings was remanded in custody until sentence which will take place in the middle of next month.
