A JUDGE blasted public prosecutors over their "weak" handling of the case of a teenaged knife thug.
Judge Michael Stokes sent Daneton Power, 16, away for three years' detention at a juvenile court yesterday for attacking a student with a knife.
But he was forced to sentence Power without a victim impact statement, a photograph of the knife, the knife itself, a photo of the injury or medical evidence.
And he said: "This is the third case today I have had to comment adversely about the absence of material."
The judge gave the press permision to name Power, of Stockfield Road, Bilborough, who admitted attempted robbery, possessing a knife and assault causing actual bodily harm.
But he said it was "yet again" an example of the Crown Prosecution Service having "stopped preparing the case" after a defendant pleaded guilty at a first hearing. And he added: "I'm not putting up with this nonsense any longer."
He slammed decisions not to charge Power with wounding and not to prosecute another person.
"He could have been charged with unlawful wounding couldn't he? Another weak decision. What does it take for the CPS to charge someone with wounding when he chases after someone with a big knife and stabs him, and that is charged as assault causing actual harm?"
Power stabbed a man near the University of Nottingham's Jubilee Campus. The horrified victim, bleeding from a one-centimetre cut to his arm, fled to the campus to call police.
Judge Stokes said there was evidence it was a joint enterprise with another suspect.
He said: "It's a weak decision not to prosecute the other one that was caught."
Power confessed to police, saying he was trying to pay off a drug debt. It was his third conviction for possessing a knife.
In his young years he was passed from home to home with undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. His lawyer, Adrian Langdale, said: "He's had a terrible life and is a very vulnerable adolescent."
Steve Chappell, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the East Midlands, said all cases were charged according to the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
He added: "We take comments about our casework seriously and I will personally look into the comments made by His Honour Judge Stokes and I will discuss the issues with him at the earliest opportunity."