A TEENAGE tearaway who caused chaos when he was taken on a charity aid mission abroad was last night starting his first jail sentence.

Stephen Baker, 17, stabbed a friend three times in a drunken fight after he had consumed a cocktail of drink and drugs.

Yesterday, at Teesside Crown Court he was sent to a young offenders' institution for two-and-a-half years for what a judge described as a "cowardly attack".

Baker, of Mitford Close, Ormesby, Middlesbrough, previously hit the headlines when he accompanied Teesside charity worker Rod Jones on a trip to Romania.

The mission to take essential living supplies and medicines to poverty stricken families was intended to be a life-changing, character-building exercise for Baker, who was the subject of a criminal anti-social behaviour order.

But it ended in disaster when he was questioned by Romanian police on allegations of drink-driving and attacking a resident in the remote village of Bivolari.

He also reversed a van belonging to Convoy Aid founder Mr Jones into a bollard, causing several hundred pounds of damage to a door that had been left open.

Baker, who required assistance from the Foreign Office, was later cleared of the allegations.

He was electronically tagged prior to leaving the UK, but conditions on his movement were relaxed by magistrates so he could make the trip earlier this year.

Yesterday, his barrister, Brian Russell, described how a "massive problem" with alcohol was at the root of his problems.

The teenager had only been back in the North-East for little more than a month when, on July 5, he stabbed Glen Shaw, 18, three times in a drunken altercation in Tebay Close, Middlesbrough.

Baker, who admitted wounding, stabbed Mr Shaw when his back was turned, leaving him with knife wounds in his collarbone, shoulder blade and back, said Sharon Elves, prosecuting.

Jailing Baker, Judge Peter Fox said: "This was a cowardly attack after you had already fought with him in your drunken state. It could have been much worse, but these were still nasty wounds."

Mr Jones last night attacked the sentence as too lenient.

"How can you stab someone three times and only get two-and- a-half years, which will mean he will serve just more than a year ?

"I feel sorry for his mother and grandmother, who dote on him, but this sentence sends out the wrong message to young lads.