Two teenagers have been jailed for the manslaughter of a 14-year-old boy.

In November 2022, Gordon Gault was stabbed in the arm with a machete while riding the back of a friend’s e-bike in Newcastle’s west end. He died in hospital six days later.

The fatal attack, which broke out as two rival gangs were looking for each other, also saw one of his associates slashed in the back.

Six teenagers went on trial at Newcastle Crown Court and were acquitted of murder, but Carlos Neto, 18, of Salford, Greater Manchester, and Lawson Natti, 18, of Newbiggin Hall, Newcastle Lawson Natty was convicted of manslaughter.

Jurors were told that Neto stabbed the 14-year-old and that Natti supplied him with the machete he had bought online.

Judge Martin Spencer sentenced Neto to nine years and two months in prison, while Belgian-born Natty was sentenced to 32 months in prison, after which he could face deportation.

The attack was the culmination of an escalating tit-for-tat violence between the two gangs.

The court heard that at the beginning of the competition, a competitor made fun of Natty’s appearance by saying “dis track”.

Neto leads a six-man team into Elswick Park, where they are discovered by more opponents, causing them to retreat.

Gordon, who was armed with a baseball bat, was stabbed while riding alone on the back of a friend’s fast e-bike, before another confrontation ensued in a nearby street.

During his sentencing, the judge also criticized drill music as a “pernicious genre” which he said “tends to glorify violence”.

Neto said he was inspired by rappers and their lifestyles, their money, fame, cars and watches.

He liked the masculine image of rappers and the respect they commanded, telling jurors during the trial: “Without those things, my chance of success was zero.”

“You still have a future,” Judge Spencer told Neto. “Sadly, Gordon Gault didn’t.”

Gordon’s mother cried as she read a statement in court urging people not to carry knives.

“The devastation caused by your actions is unimaginable.”

Gordon’s grandmother, Frances Galt, referred to the offensive raps and comments Neto made after the killing.

She said: “Laughing at him and gloating about his actions completely devastated me.

“I have never shown any remorse and I can never forgive that.”