HE was branded calculating and manipulative after a vicious stabbing in a car park.

But when the extent of his criminal past eventually caught up with Ashley Butt, the teenager was reduced to tears.

At the age of just 17 he was handed an eight year prison term with an additional four years on licence after he was deemed to be a danger to the public.

Already convicted for a series of violent crimes Butt appeared at Southampton Crown Court to receive his sentence after he was found guilty of stabbing another youth in the chest with a pair of scissors.

The court heard how Butt and an unknown accomplice had initially been chatting to two other youths before his mood abruptly changed and he began demanding money.

After beating one of the boys to the ground when he refused to hand over money he then ran at him with a pair of scissors handed to him by his friend and stabbed him in the chest.

The victim then ran off and the second youth, frightened at what he had witnessed, gave Butt £10 before fleeing. The pair then went to a friend's house nearby and called the police.

Butt, 17, of Neva Road, Midanbury,Southampton, was convicted of wounding with intent, robbery, attempted robbery and possession of a bladed article.

The court heard that among his previous 26 convictions were attacks on his mother, an assault on a police officer and a knife point robbery of a pizza delivery driver.

Prosecutor Gavin Sumpter read out an extract from the wounded teenager's impact statement to the police.

In it, he explained how he had been forced to stop playing football for a local side, given up a labouring job and had lost confidence.

Passing sentence, the judge accepted Butt - who was crying in the dock - had not enjoyed an easy life with no parental control.

“I observed you during the course of the trial and I have no doubt you pose a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public. You are a calculating and manipulative young man.”

Charles Cochand, defending, spoke of Butt's chaotic childhood but while on remand, he had been working well and for the time he had shown motivation, achieving the equivalent of an adult apprenticeship on a bricklaying course.

After the hearing, Dc Ricky Dhanda said: “This was a shocking incident. Ashley Butt is a dangerous young man who has been taken off the streets of Southampton. I am pleased with the sentence.”