See boy 18,slashed to death by 8- gang men

A teenager who was hacked to death by a vicious gang mob was targeted after he survived an earlier "punishment slashing" with a machete, it emerged today.

Jonjo Highton, 18, was set upon by eight men who stabbed and slashed him around the head and body outside his home.

He was pronounced dead at the scene after a fatal stab wound to the neck.

Seven men from Preston aged between 19 and 27 are being questioned in connection with the attack.

But today police confirmed the teenager suffered another vicious attack last year when he was "whacked" with a large hunting knife on hist buttocks and backs of his thighs.

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Two men are currently serving a total of 16 years for the attack which left bones exposed.

Police now fear the killing could be linked to a renewed outburst of feuding between gangs from the Avenham and Moor Park areas of Preston.

Detective Superintendent Eddie Thistlethwaite of Lancashire Police said: "This has been an absolute tragedy for an 18 year old boy and his family.

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"Jonjo was injured previously just over a year ago, people were prosecuted for that offence and I'm determined that people will be prosecuted for this brutal offence as well.

"I believe this is a case of young people involved in different groups and like to encourage people to move away from that there is an alternative life for young people they don't need to go down this route.

"We are investigating all such offences all possible motives. At the minute i believe it was a group of people that know each other but we are looking at all other options as well."

Jonjo was attacked in June last year after yobs from the Avenham swore revenge on the Moor Park following the beating of a convicted drug dealer who spent a week in hospital after being attacked by a group of men who set a dog on him and hit him with a brick as he walked home from a Caribbean carnival.

The attack was seen as a "slight" on Avenham as a whole and Jonjo who lived in Moor Park was targeted in revenge last year.

Cavendish PressThe teenager was cycling near his home when was confronted by a gang of four men who drew up in a Ford Focus.Jonjo tried to ride away but as made a phone call was was struck to the jaw, knocking him to the floor.Before he was able to disentangle himself from his bike, the attackers swooped on him and rained kicks and punches around his body.A group of schoolchildren sat on a nearby doorstep watched as the attackers produced the machete then repeatedly slashed the victim.

At the time Jonjo was left critically injured with deep wounds to his legs, arms, buttocks and back but he recovered from his ordeal and was able to walk again having undergone plastic surgery for his injuries.

He declined to testify against his attackers.

In November last year Shaun Tyer, then 33, and Dylan Cornwell, then 17, both admitted wounding with intent.

Tyrer, got eight and half years and Cornwell got seven and a half years.

A third man was cleared.