FOUR Redditch teenagers have each been sentenced to 18 months detention for a planned revenge attack on a college student.

Warren Lowe,18, was returning to his home in Chedworth Close, Redditch, when he was surrounded by a gang of 15 youths.

He suffered a broken jaw and arm and had five stitches in a head wound. He also needed psychiatric counselling.

The attack followed a stabbing and a murder charge in Redditch and the escalation of violence between Asian and white groups, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Two days before Mr Lowe was badly injured, a pitched battle between rival factions terrified shoppers in the town centre when iron bars were produced.

Mr Lowe was present at the incident on November 4 last year but had not taken part in any violence, said Judge Marten Coates.

He had been wrongly identified by his attackers and has still not been able to return to his college course.

In the dock were 17-year-old twins Kamran and Amir Riaz, of Lodge Road, Hussain Mudassir, 17, of Glover Street, and Mohammed Khalil, 19, of Yew Tree Road. They all pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Lowe on November 6.

Judge Coates said relationships between the Asian community and two white men - seen by police as the instigators of trouble - worsened following the murder last September.

But the police were impotent to act because no-one would supply evidence on which to base any prosecutions. The town centre incident became the catalyst for the assault on Mr Lowe.

The judge said: "A decision was made for revenge to be taken. Unfortunately, the person targeted was innocent of any wrong doing. This was a planned, savage and sustained attack. People are not entitled to take the law into their own hands."

Prosecutor Brett Stevenson said all defendants admitted kicking Mr Lowe. Other youths fled the scene and were not arrested.

Mohammed Latif, for the twins, said they were both on the verge of university careers. They felt disgusted by their behaviour and wanted to apologise to the victim.

But he said Asians had been subjected to a number of attacks and had shown restraint. Asian leaders had met police in a bid to resolve the situation.

The court heard that Mudassir had been hit on the head with a metal bar in the earlier incident.

And Andrew Fisher, for Khalil, said: "The trouble started with a murder and it is hoped this is the final chapter. It all got out of hand."

DC Martin Taylor, who was asked by the judge to describe the background of the case, gave evidence that the Asian group had made an error in selecting Mr Lowe for revenge. Two other youths were their main target.

He said the pair had been 'the flag bearers' for insults and racist graffiti. But since Mr Lowe's attack there had been no more trouble.

Omar Mohammed is awaiting trial by jury charged with the murder of Liam Gall.