A YARDIE gangster who tried to kill three people after storming a house wielding a "Rambo-style" knife was sentenced to 17 years in prison yesterday.

Damien Stephenson, 23, originally from Jamaica, was found guilty by a jury at Teesside Crown Court of three counts of attempted murder and one of aggravated burglary.

Three others from Middlesbrough who joined him in the raid - Andrew Woodier, 23, of Albert Road, Paul Ward, 25, of Percy Street, and Janine Taylor, 33, of Marlborough Gardens - were each found guilty of three counts of wounding with intent and one of aggravated burglary.

They were all given eight-year jail terms.

Stephenson, of Camberwell, London, admitted four offences relating to possession of a loaded handgun.

Earlier, the court heard how the defendants invaded the house in Albany Street, Middlesbrough, on March 17, carrying weapons including knives, iron bars and bats.

Their victims, Jamaican Oliver Whyte, his girlfriend, Kadian Bailey, and their friend, Michelle Grant, needed life-saving surgery after a "vicious and sustained attack".

Sentencing the gang, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Peter Fox, warned that Yardies who came to Teesside to sell hard drugs would not be tolerated.

He also said that local people who came under their influence due to drug addiction needed to learn a lesson.

"The centre of Middlesbrough is not going to be taken over by drugs gangs warring to the death," said the judge. "Yardies who come here from London to peddle cocaine and create turf wars can go away."

He said decent people living in the town centre and struggling to bring up their families had had enough of the "filthy trade and the violence that comes with it. They deserve better neighbours".

Detective Sergeant Ted Allen, of Middlesbrough CID, said Stephenson had been carrying a survival knife, which could have easily killed someone. He said: "We could have been dealing with a triple murder."

Det Sgt Allen described the sentences as excellent but said the six-month police inquiry had been plagued by witness intimidation.