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The teenager who wielded a huge zombie knife on a busy Croydon street has had his controversial sentence overturned by the Court of Appeal - and is now behind bars.

Joshua Gardner was spared jail in November last year despite attacking a car with the terrifying knife as the petrified driver sat inside.

The 18-year-old, who was 17 at the time, was given a two-year suspended sentence, causing outrage among members of the public who questioned how it can possibly act as a deterrent to stop other teenagers carrying knives.

Gardner, of London Road in Thornton Heath, appeared at London's Court of Appeal today (Wednesday, January 30) where his sentence was reviewed by three of the UK's top judges.

He was jailed for three and a half years in a young offenders institute following a two-hour hearing.

(Image: Met Police)

Sir Brian Leveson, who heard the case alongside Mr Justice Nicol and Sir Brian Keith, said at the hearing: "One of the challenges facing society is the common place for carrying and using knives.

"That can never be any excuse for carrying a weapon of the type that this offender carried on this day, reportedly in self defence, which all to frequently causes an offence and results in fatal injuries, particularly to teenage boys, almost on a daily basis."

He added: "The sentence this offender should have [been given] was four years in custody. We reduce that sentence to three and a half years in custody to reflect the days he spent on tag and [carrying out] unpaid work.

"The sentence and time he spent on remand will also have to be considered."

Gardner, sitting in court with his mother, looked calm as the sentence was read out. He hugged his mother before being taken down to the cells.

What did Gardner do?

The horrifying attack, which happened on May 30 last year on London Road, was witnessed by several members of the public, and Gardner's outburst of violence was caught on the dash-cam of a vehicle that was travelling in the opposite direction. The shocking video went viral on social media.

In the footage, 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, trying to smash it.

Gardner then tries barge his way into the car through 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 men 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 ran off.

Why was his sentence referred?

Gardner's original sentence, a two-year suspended sentence, sparked outrage across the country, with many calling it too "lenient".

London mayor Sadiq Khan asked for the sentence to be reassessed, and the Solicitor General referred it to the Court of Appeal on December 20.

The Solicitor General Robert Buckland said at the time: “After carefully considering the details of this case, I decided to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal due to the serious nature of the offence concerned.

“Gardner took to the streets in broad daylight, terrorising his victim and those members of the public who witnessed this extreme act of violence with a dangerous weapon.

“It is now for the court to decide whether to increase the sentence.”