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A thug who pulled out a huge zombie knife on a busy Croydon street and tried to break into a driver's car has been spared jail for the terrifying crime.

Joshua Gardner pulled out the huge knife on London Road in broad daylight earlier this year.

A shocking video of the incident went viral on social media, and showed Gardener, who was on a bicycle, wield the knife as he rushed towards a car.

In the terrifying footage, believed to have been taken on a dashcam, Gardner, who was 17 at the time of the incident but has since turned 18, repeatedly hits the driver's window with the weapon and then heads round to the other side of the vehicle and smashes the front passenger window.

The driver then fleas on foot, while other members of the public watch in horror.

Gardener, of London Road in Thornton Heath, was found guilty of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent in relation to the incident at the Old Bailey last Wednesday (November 21).

He had previously pleaded guilty to affray and being in possession of an offensive weapon.

See how the sentencing unfolded in our recap here.

He was due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Monday (November 26), but the hearing was instead adjourned until Tuesday (November 27).

At the hearing, Judge Anuja Dhir QC, who became the first non-white circuit judge to sit at the Old Bailey last year, sentenced Gardner to two years for attempting to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, one year for affray and one year for being in possession of an offensive weapon.

These will run concurrently, which means a total sentence of two years.

Crucially, however, his custodial sentence has been suspended for two years.

As part of the sentence, Gardener has been given:

a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 20 hours

a thinking skills programme of 19 hours

150 hours of unpaid work

a curfew meaning he is unable to leave his home between 7pm and 7am, lasting for nine months

Defendant 'kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to sell drugs'

Judge Dhir said the contents of a pre-sentence report and probation report played an important role in the sentence.

In the probation report, the judge revealed that between March 26 and April 2 this year, Gardner was kidnapped at gunpoint by a gang over a friend’s drug debt, before being forced to sell drugs to pay off the debt.

According to the judge, he was “bundled into a car” and “threatened with a gun” because of the debt which one of his friends had run up.

He was kept against his will for 10 days, and made to sell drugs to work off the debt.

The court heard that some of that information has been corroborated by police, who have described the account as “credible and accurate”.

In the report, the probation officer points to the kidnapping as a reason Gardner had been carrying the huge zombie knife at the time of the attack on the car.

The victim was 'lucky'

Michael Halepas, senior crown prosecutor at the CPS, said after the sentencing that the victim was "lucky" Gardner chose not to pursue him after he made off on foot.

"The violence that unfolded so suddenly in broad daylight on a busy Croydon street horrified members of the public," he said.

"Joshua Gardner pulled a zombie knife out and used it to savagely smash the door of a vehicle to get to the driver inside. Luckily for the driver who fled the scene, Gardner did not pursue him beyond the vehicle.

"The key evidence in this case was the dash-cam footage that captured the attack.

"Gardner denied that he intended to cause any harm, but using the strong video evidence supplied by a passing vehicle’s dash-cam, the prosecution was able to prove to jurors that he was lying.

"The jury was satisfied that Gardner had intended to use the zombie knife against the victim and not merely scare him.

“We recognise the scourge of serious knife crime on this city and are working hard to prosecute offenders."

'You can see a stabbing motion towards the victim'

On Monday, prosecution barrister Kate Fortescue told this website after the hearing it was most likely Gardner and the victim knew each other, although it is not known in what capacity.

This is mainly because the 19-year-old driver didn't give evidence at the trial or give a statement to police.

Ms Fortescue briefly told the court on Monday about the events of May 30.

She said: "In the video you can see the defendant get off his bike ... and hit a knife repeatedly on the driver’s window."

She added: "The defendant smashed the passenger window and you can see his arm go through the window and you can see a stabbing motion towards the victim."

Ms Fortescue didn’t tell the court of any reason why Gardner would do this.

Mark Stevens, defending Gardner, told the court that the teenager’s oldest brother died when he was just 13 years old.

To make matters worse, at around the same time as this happened, Gardner’s other brother, who was also older than him, was jailed.

Mr Stevens told the court that Gardner "knows his actions are so wrong he needs to be punished".

"There are really positive signs he can mature and can give something back to the community," he added.

How the attack happened

In the footage showing the attack, which happened at 5pm on May 30, Gardner is seen cycling along the road and stops next to a blue VW, which is stationary on London Road.

The 19-year-old driver of the car pulls out from a queue of traffic and appears to almost hit Gardner, forcing him to jump out of the way.

The VW then hits an oncoming vehicle.

Gardner drops his bike to the floor and runs after the car, pulling out the huge zombie knife as he does.

He kicks the rear passenger door behind the driver and then swings the knife six times against the driver's front window in an effort to smash it.

Gardner then attempts to get into the vehicle via one of the passenger doors, but finds it is locked, so he runs around to the other side of the car and goes out of view of the camera.

The driver desperately tries to drive away, with the windscreen wipers moving up and down, and Gardner then appears in view of the camera again as he kicks the front passenger door at least twice.

Another two males are seen running towards the car as Gardner smashes the front passenger window with the knife.

At this point the driver gets out of the car and runs off.

Luckily the driver was not injured and returned to his vehicle after Gardner made off.