One of Southport's notorious Gelling brothers was chased through a newsagents and in an apparent 'gang feud'.
Jordan Gelling - once banned alongside his siblings James and Ashley from the town's arcades - was set upon by two rival yobs.
Jack Wall, 23, and Kallum Rimmer, 24, chased the 27-year-old through Jo Kelly's News & General Store in Bispham Road.
CCTV cameras captured Wall wielding a lock knife and Rimmer leaping over a freezer to try and catch Gelling in the shop.
They cornered him outside before a fight broke out, during which Gelling suffered stab wounds to his buttocks and arms.
But the thug, who was treated at Southport Hospital later that evening, refused to help police officers with their investigation.
And the following day a mystery gunman opened fire on Wall's home in Bispham Road , damaging two windows at the property.
Wall and Rimmer denied any wrongdoing, despite Wall being caught red-handed with the same knife a few weeks later.
They were set to stand trial, before Wall admitted affray and possessing an offensive weapon with intent to cause fear of violence.
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Lloyd Morgan, defending Rimmer, said he refused to come to court that day, because "he was fearful of repercussions in HMP Liverpool".
He said: "Mr Rimmer has also been a victim, if not at the hands of the person that was injured, but certainly by associates."
Liverpool Crown Court today heard Gelling was in the newsagents, with an unidentified friend, at around 10.20pm on May 30 last year.
They were being served by a solitary female assistant when Wall burst in, brandishing the knife, accompanied by Rimmer, of no fixed address.
Sarah Gruffydd, prosecuting, said: "Mr Gelling and his friend have immediately run, they have jumped over a freezer within the shop and exited out the rear.
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"Once they go outside, Mr Rimmer chases them out the back door, after leaping over the freezer. Mr Wall goes out the front to corner them."
Ms Gruffydd said Gelling was assaulted by both defendants, in a fight seen on CCTV, but was "unwilling to assist police with enquiries".
Judge Neil Flewitt, QC, said he assumed that was why neither Wall nor Rimmer were charged with wounding, but added: "It's not a very good reason, is it?"
He said there was "more than enough evidence to charge someone with wounding" and branded the Crown Prosecution Service's decision "very surprising".
The judge told Ms Gruffydd to relay his comments, adding: "It's not your decision, but a very strange decision in my view, which is going to limit my sentencing powers."
Officers identified Wall and Rimmer on CCTV, while Rimmer's DNA was also found on a bottle he was holding in the shop.
Wall was caught with the lock knife after trying to cycle away from police on June 13, while Rimmer handed himself in the following day.
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In a pre-sentence report, Wall suggested the knife was not used, but his barrister, Charles Lander, said he no longer stood by that claim.
Both lawyers said their clients accepted they would be sentenced on the basis of a joint enterprise involving the use of a knife.
Wall has 18 previous convictions for 26 offences, including burglary in 2014.
Mr Lander, who urged the judge to impose a suspended sentence, said Gelling and associates tried to attack Wall earlier that day.
He said: "The very fact that Mr Gelling doesn't want to assist the police perhaps says a lot. Your honour has read the background, as set out by Mr Wall.
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"Mr Wall has been spat at by that individual, he's been chased, and there's been difficulties with that individual.
"Your honour has seen the case summary, what took place the evening after this offence, and what took place at Mr Wall's address."
Judge Flewitt asked what prompted Gelling's "animosity" towards Wall, to which Mr Lander replied his client's "association with others".
Wall claimed he was passed the knife by a third unidentified man before the attack, which Judge Flewitt said he viewed "with a degree of scepticism".
The judge said: "This has all the hallmarks of some sort of gang feud."
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Mr Lander said there was no feud on behalf of Wall and he had changed his life after coming out of jail in 2015.
He said he now had an 18-month old son with his girlfriend, had found a job and helped care for his sick mum.
Rimmer has 14 previous convictions for 35 offences, including robbery in 2011 and a public order offence when he attacked a police officer last September.
He was recalled on licence to serve the remainder of a three-year jail sentence, imposed in 2016 for burglary, and was not set for release until January 2020.
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Mr Morgan said Rimmer suffered a traumatic event aged nine, which "it would appear from his litany of offences has had a marked effect upon him".
He said: "This has been a long-running incident, Mr Rimmer has certainly suffered at the hands of others as well."
Judge Flewitt accepted there was "a background" and they may have been looking for Gelling as a result of a previous incident, but that did not excuse their behaviour, which must have caused the shopkeeper "considerable alarm and distress".
The judge said it was a "huge shame" for Wall, who now had family responsibilities and employment prospects, but had "thrown all that away".
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He said: "This sort of violence in a public place and in particular involving a knife simply cannot be tolerated and there cannot be any alternative to an immediate prison sentence.
"Knife crime is rife, serious injury and death often follows from the use of a knife and it's probably only good fortune that more serious injuries were not caused in this particular case."
Wall's girlfriend sobbed in the public gallery as he was jailed for two years and four months, before Rimmer was handed two years behind bars.
James, Ashley and Jordan Gelling , then aged 15, 12 and 11, were publicly shamed when handed ASBOs by magistrates in Bootle in November 2002.
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Judge Denis Clark, who initially imposed the three-year order on the boys, described the trio as "a thorn in the side of decent Southport society" .
But the brothers, who accepted responsibility for robberies, thefts and assaults, continued to make people's lives a misery in the seaside resort.
James was jailed for 18 months for attacking an ex-girlfriend in 2012, while Jordan was hit with a four-year sentence after raiding a newsagent in 2011.
Ashley was locked up for two years for a mugging in 2013, before James hit the headlines again after scaling a 12ft dock and escaping custody in 2014.
Nicknamed the Southport 'Spider-Man' for the feat at Sefton Magistrates' Court, he spent four weeks on the run, before being caught and jailed for a year.
