A moped rider who cut off a teenager's hand has been found guilty of GBH.

Che Ambe, 21 of Caractacus Cottage View, Watford, attacked Tyler Stevens after he fell while trying to run away from his attacker in Long Elms, Abbots Langley, on the evening of Sunday February 10.

Mr Stevens, then 18, and his friend, were walking home from a Spar shop in School Mead when Ambe riding a bike approached them and began chasing them armed with a machete or large knife.

Mr Stevens tripped as he tried to escape and Ambe caught up with him. He curled up on a grass verge to protect himself, a jury at St Albans Crown Court heard, before he was struck six or seven times by the knife.

Watford Observer:

Tyler Stevens arriving at St Albans Crown Court last week. Credit: South Beds

His friend managed to run back home, and after Ambe fled the scene, Mr Stevens was also able to run home for safety.

Police later found his severed hand and doctors tried to reattach it, but their efforts came to nothing.

Another officer found a knife on the opposite side of the road. This knife was not the one used to attack Tyler Stevens, but was one the victim said he was carrying for his own protection.

Mr Stevens told police that the recovered knife must have fallen from the waistband of his trousers as his ran.

Ambe was spotted afterwards on a moped and was arrested after the police deployed a 'stinger,' which punctured its tyres.

The prosecutor said that when questioned the next day, Che Ambe said he was not there. But the jury was told that in a defence statement he now says he was acting in self-defence after Mr Stevens produced a knife and waved it at him.

In a police interview played to the jury during the trial, Mr Stevens said Ambe arrived on a moped and said: "What's good?"

Mr Stevens said: "We just ran - I knew he was looking for us. It was for stuff I had been dragged into. It was nothing to do with me."

When he slipped over on the grass verge he said he could clearly see Che Ambe's face in a motorcycle helmet, which had no visor.

He said: "I could see his face through the helmet. I can picture it."

Asked to describe the attack, he said: "I thought I was going to die. It was a big long knife - he was hitting me constantly. It was a long knife. It was either a machete or a big sword thing.

"He hit me six or seven times. I don't why it stopped - maybe he saw my hand come off and thought that was too much. I was screaming."

Mr Stevens said he suffered nightmares about the attack.

Detective Sergeant Steven Boddy, from the Three Rivers local crime unit, said: "This case demonstrates the severe consequences of carrying knives. This was a vicious attack that has left the victim with an unimaginable and life-changing injury. I am pleased that the jury have come to this decision and I hope that the victim feels that justice has been served.

"We do all we can to bring knife crime offenders to justice. If you are worried or have information about knife crime in your local area, please call 101. In an emergency, or if someone’s life is in danger, always call 999 straight away."

Ambe has been remanded in custody. He will be sentenced on September 4.