A teenager from Colindale has been sent to a young offenders' institute for violent assault.

Nahakul Thapa, 19, of Little Strand, was found guilty of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and was sentenced to four years.

He was also found guilty of violent disorder and sentenced to another two years, to run concurrently.

Thapa was part of a group of mainly of Nepalese men and a woman who left a restaurant on Old Compton Street, Soho at 1.15am on December 23, 2013.

The woman realised that a man had put his hand in her bag, and she felt that something had been taken out and told the rest of the group.

The man ran off and was chased by the men from the group, who caught him in Phoenix Street and knocked him to the ground, kicking and punching him.

An off-duty police officer intervened and managed to get the man away from the group and administered first aid.

The group then went around the corner, where a woman was assaulted and received serious head injuries, with witnesses describing the attack on the female as “ferocious”. One witness thought that she had been left for dead.

The off-duty police officer heard the woman scream, found her and managed to detain one of the group after a brief chase. Other members of the group were caught by security staff and police with help from members of the public.

During this time the man who had been assaulted made off.

Thapa was ordered to pay a £120 victim surcharge when he was sentenced at Blackfriars Crown last month, alongside Diprash Shakya, 23, of Wembley, and Rabrindra Giri, 25, of Charlton, south London, who were both found guilty of wound with intent and violent disorder.

Detective Constable Steph Barron of Camden Major Crime Unit said: “The attack on the woman was a vicious, unprovoked assault which left her very traumatised and will take her a long time to fully recover from.

“The physical damage may have repaired but the mental scars remain. I am happy that her assailant has been given a substantial sentence and also that others of the same group have also been incarcerated for an unjustified attack on the male victim.”