Brothers and teenager detained for Leicester city centre machete attack

Brothers Lequarne and Markel Benjamin were jailed at Leicester Crown Court in March

Two brothers and a teenager have been detained after two men were attacked with a machete in Leicester city centre.

Police said Lequarne and Markel Benjamin and a 17-year-old confronted the men as they walked into a shop in Humberstone Gate on 22 March last year.

The struggle continued into the street and one man suffered injuries to his neck in the attack, officers said.

The defendants admitted charges over the attack at Leicester Crown Court.

The sentences were:

• Lequarne Benjamin, 21, of Rutland Street, Leicester, will serve two-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to violent disorder.

• Markel Benjamin, 18, of Dover Street, Leicester, was sentenced to three years and six months in a young offenders institution after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm (GBH) and possessing a bladed weapon in public.

• The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to two years and six months in a young offenders institution after pleading guilty to GBH and possessing a bladed weapon in public.

The group were arrested in May when warrants were carried out by officers at separate addresses and they were later sentenced at Leicester Crown Court on 26 April.

Det Con Robert Smith, who led the investigation, said: "Despite their convictions, they are fortunate the injury inflicted was not more serious.

"A wound to the neck with such a weapon could easily have had catastrophic consequences and a very different outcome."

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].