A teenager has been jailed for a revenge attack in which the victim was ambushed and stabbed outside his home.

Michael Eagles had been in a petty fight outside a Chinese takeaway with Jake Garratlay and tracked him down to his home nearby to attack him again.

He went home and armed himself with a Bowie-style knife before getting his girlfriend Jessica Oldbury, from Newton Abbot, to hammer on the door of his flat until he came out.

Eagles crouched hidden in the shadows but as soon as Mr Garratlay went outside he attacked him and stabbed him six times in the arms, chest and back.

A brave neighbour ran out of his home and grabbed Eagles, who fled and disposed of the knife before it could be recovered.

He needed hospital treatment including stitches in a stab wound in his armpit after the attack outside his home in Castle Lane, Torquay.

Eagles, aged 19, of Lower Warberry Road, Torquay, admitted wounding with intent to caused grievous bodily harm and was jailed for five years and four months in a Young Offenders’ Institution by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

Oldbury, aged 19, of Windsor Avenue, Newton Abbot, admitted affray and was ordered to do 100 hours unpaid community work and do 15 days of rehabilitation activities.

He told Eagles: ‘You went there to attack Mr Garratlay. I don’t know whether or not Oldbury had a knife but plainly the plan was despicable enough with or without a knife.

‘This was an appalling piece of quite unnecessary revenge violence. It was witnessed by neighbours, one of whom very bravely intervened. He may have saved the victim’s life and you, Eagles ran off in the same cowardly fashion as you planned this attack.

‘You not only used a weapon but brought it to the scene and there was a significant degree of premeditation. You know he could have died because of what you did.’

Miss Rachel Drake, prosecuting, said there was ill feeling between Oldbury and Mr Garratlay’s partner which led to the minor fight between him and Eagles earlier in the evening.

He and Oldbury went home where he armed himself with the knife before carrying out the attack at around 11pm on November 15 last year.

Mr Barry White, for Eagles, said he had a troubled past in which he left home when he was 15, lived in a series of foster homes, and had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and adult ADHD, which will make serving any sentence more difficult.

Mr Jeffrey Segan, for Oldbury, said the offence was completely out of character and had shocked her and her family. She has a job at a shop and has never been in trouble before.