A GANG who chased a man into a Blackbird Leys park before knifing him in the back have been jailed.

Francis Nala-Hartley, 24, of Edgecombe Road, Oxford, Myron Stapleton, 29, of Balfour Road, Oxford, and Waqas Khan, 26, of Furlong Close, Oxford, were all set to stand trial for one count of wounding with intent.

But in a last minute change of heart and with a panel of jurors waiting to be selected, the three men all pleaded guilty to a lesser count of unlawful wounding at the start of their trial in March.

Stapleton also admitted another count of having a mobile phone and SIM card while in prison.

They were all sentenced and locked up at their sentencing hearing at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

READ AGAIN: The hearing in which all three pleaded guilty ahead of their trial.

Outlining the case prosecutor Shaun Esprit said that the trio spotted their eventual victim at Costcutter in the Blackbird Leys area on September 4 last year.

There had been some previous 'animosity' and the victim saw what he thought was a knife in Stapleton's pocket.

He ran to Blackbird Leys Park and the gang chased him there before a fight broke out.

During that altercation Stapleton stabbed his victim, which caused a wound in his lower back which needed hospital treatment.

In mitigation at the hearing defence barristers for Nala-Hartley and Khan pointed out that it was only Stapleton who wielded a knife during the attack. Stapleton's defence team said he had made good progress in jail.

Stapleton was jailed for 26 months and Nala-Hartley and Khan for 14 months.