A DUDLEY youth who stabbed a 15-year-old boy in the chest with a kitchen knife after he told him to calm down during a heated argument between two groups has been given an 18-month Detention and Training Order.

It was a serious attack, stressed Mr Howard Searle prosecuting, because of the prevalence of knife crime in the Dudley area.

He said the 16-year-old attacker left his young victim with psychological damage but fortunately the wound he suffered was not as serious as it could have been.

Mr Searle told Wolverhampton Crown Court the victim was with friends in Stafford Street, Dudley, when they came across a second group of which the defendant was a member.

They were in Priory Street near Dudley Magistrates Court when a dispute broke out between girls in the two groups and the victim tried to act as a peacemaker.

He was then asked why he was shouting at the girls but the defendant - clearly "irked" by his intervention - produced the 8" knife, lunged at him and stabbed him in the chest.

It was fortunate the blow caused no damage to any internal organs but it left the 15-year-old shocked and scared, added Mr Searle.

In a victim impact statement he later told police the incident had been traumatic, it had knocked his confidence and he was now wary about walking in the centre of Dudley.

The 16-year-old admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and two charges of being in possession of a bladed article.

Alexander Pritchard-Jones, defending, told the court the teenager, who was arrested the following day at Dudley Bus Station when he still had the knife in his possession, now wanted to put his life back in order.

He said the 16-year-old carried the weapon because a number of personal difficulties in his life had left him feeing vulnerable.