A sixteen-year old has been convicted of stabbing another teenager in the stomach in West Hampstead last November.

A jury a Blackfriars' Crown Court found the boy, who cannot be named due to his age, guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent - along with an offence of carrying a knife.

The jury returned the verdict this morning after being sent out to deliberate late on Thursday.

The court had heard how on the evening of November 8, the defendant surprised his victim Michael Onabanjo, 18, after leading him - as part of a small group - down Billy Fury Way, off Lithos Road.

Mr Onabanjo needed lifesaving surgery and 52 stitches after being attacked with what he described in a statement as a "big hunting knife".

He was left with his stomach exposed by the horrific wounds in Billy Fury Way after being attacked in a bin store adjacent to the poorly-lit alleyway.

The victim did not give evidence in person, but his sister's boyfriend Adeyamo Adeisa - who was with him in the alley - did.

Summing up the case on Thursday, Judge Sullivan recapped Mr Adeisa's evidence.

She said he had reported thinking that the situation "didn't seem too serious" as the defendant, and three others, walked with he and Mr Onabanjo down the alleyway.

According to the judge, Mr Adeisa then said: "There was a door to go through. The whole group went in. Michael and I were one or two metres behind. We just followed them, and then it all happened very fast.

"[The defendant] was directly opposite Michael, he was holding a knife with a blade that must have been nine or ten inches long."

Mr Adeisa said he had thought to take the knife off the defendant, but said before he could do so, he had lunged at Mr Onabanjo.

The witness also identified the defendant as the attacker in a police identification process three days after the attack.

The defendant had claimed to have been outside of the bin store where the attack took place, and claimed not to know why Mr Adeisa had named him as the attacker.

The teenager will be sentenced at Blackfriars' on June 11.