THIS facial scar is the unexpected birthday present Lee Hopkins got from a l5-year-old thug.

Every time he looks in the mirror he sees a sickening reminder of the act of unprovoked violence.

The boy swiped a cut-throat razer across Lee's face, leaving a nine inch wound that needed 47 stitches and cutting so deep it scraped the bone and chipped three of his teeth, Durham Crown Court heard.

Yesterday the boy, who can not be named for legal reasons, started a five-year sentence at a young offenders' institution.

Police said unsuspecting student Lee was in the wrong place at the wrong time that night on Wearside. He and his friend, David Weston, were escorting a female friend back to her house in Sunderland, after his l9th birthday party in the city

The court heard that the young thug tried to strike up a conversation with the girl.

When the boy started bawling and shouting at them, Lee asked him to calm down. The youth lashed out at him.

Lee said:"I turned my head and felt his fist brush past my face. When I looked at my mate David, he looked as if he'd seen a ghost. There was blood everywhere."

Lee, from Silksworth, Sunderland, needed 47 stitches and a further eight stitches inside his mouth. He still faces extensive laser surgery.

As the crazed attacker tried to escape, witnesses flagged down a passing police car which, by chance, was an armed response vehicle.

Detective Constable Martin Heap, who led the police investigation, said: "It is one of the worst injuries I have seen in my 14-year career."

The youth, who had no previous convictions and was said to come from a good background, admitted wounding with intent.