THREE thugs who launched an unprovoked attack on a teenager, leaving him with a serious stab wound, have been jailed for a total of 13 years and three months.

Brothers Robert Dawson, 32, of Friars Street, Shoebury, and John Dawson, 31, of Leigh Road, Leigh, armed themselves with a jack handle and a baseball bat and forced their way into a flat in Shoebury High Street on August 6 last year.

Lee Scowen, 35, also of Leigh Road, was carrying a knife and waited outside the flat where he stabbed victim Leighton Cooper, 19, in the arm when he tried to escape.

The attack left Mr Cooper with two large cuts on his head caused by the jack handle and a torn tendon in his right arm caused by the blade.

Robert Dawson admitted causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent but John Dawson was convicted of GBH and Lee Scowen was convicted of GBH with intent after a trial last month at Southend Crown Court.

Robin Griffiths, prosecuting, said the men hatched a plan to attack the occupant of the flat, Sam Longhurst, following a row in the street earlier in the day.

When they arrived, Mr Longhurst was out but his cousin, Mr Cooper, was inside the flat.

He said: “The three men entered the building, Mr Cooper heard a knock at the door. Believing it was his cousin returning he opened the door and the men burst in.

“The three were armed with weapons. Mr Cooper was hit over the head at least twice with the metal pole.

“He managed to affect an escape from the room but almost immediately he ran into Lee Scowen. In the course of the struggle Leighton Cooper was stabbed with a knife.

“It could well have resulted in a more serious injury.”

The trio made off on foot because they lost the keys to Scowen’s Ford Fiesta, which had been parked across a driveway.

Before leaving they left a knife sheath in the driver’s footwell and the wheel lock and pairs of latex gloves in the car.

The knife was never found. All three were arrested the following day.

Adam Budworth, mitigating for Robert Dawson, said he had been “drawn in” to an argument that initially started between Scowen and another man.

He said: “He felt it was going to have repercussions on his own home and it was not of his making.”

Laura Hocknell, mitigating for John Dawson, said the other men “acted beyond his intentions” and prosecutors accepted he had not inflicted any of the injuries.

Paul Raudnitz, mitigating for Scowen, said he had no previous convictions and acted in a “split second of madness”.

He said: “This is wholly and totally out of character.”

Recorder Kenneth Carr said Mr Cooper was an “innocent young man who was subjected to a savage beating”.

He said: “It is fortunate indeed that the injuries were not more serious.”

Scowen was jailed for six-and-a-half years, Robert Dawson was jailed for five-and-a-half years and John Dawson was handed 15 months.