A TEENAGER who stabbed to death a self-styled vigilante with a samurai sword was jailed for life last night.

Jason Kelly, 19, admitted murdering father-of-one Robert Dunne, 31, only yards from his home.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Mr Dunne had taken it upon himself to keep order on the West Lane estate in Middlesbrough.

The 16-stone scaffolder patrolled the streets wearing a balaclava and armed with a hammer, baseball bat and a canister of CS gas.

In January, Mr Dunne was tackling two youths who he believed responsible for causing trouble.

As the 31-year-old father of a baby boy got involved in a violent row with the youths, passer-by Kelly went to his nearby house in Outhwaite Street to fetch the ornamental weapon.

When Mr Dunne went to grab a hammer from a friend's car, Kelly stabbed him from behind, plunging the blade in almost up to its hilt,

Mr Dunne was treated at the scene by passers-by before police and paramedics arrived.

He was taken to Middlesbrough General Hospital but later died from massive blood loss. The blade had pierced his left lung before entering his heart.

The court heard there was a history of trouble on the West Lane estate. Jeremy Richardson, prosecuting, said: "There had been trouble between the deceased and local youths. This involved violence and certain acts on both sides.

"Neither side would be eligible for sainthood but many people saw the deceased as a local hero. It is plain the deceased was not adverse to taking the law into his own hands and taking action against those he saw as the local troublemakers."

He told the court that some people saw the victim as "a champion of the local community" while for others he was "part of the trouble".

Mr Dunne had been out most of the night before he died drinking and taking cocaine, the court heard.

Nicholas Cook, mitigating, said Kelly was terrified of Mr Dunne, adding: "The late Mr Dunne was undoubtedly very unpopular among certain young people in the West Lane estate."

Judge Peter Fox, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, jailed Kelly for life recommending he serve a minimum of eight years before he is considered for parole.

Mr Dunne and his girlfriend, Julie Sykes, had been together for three years and had a ten-month-old baby, Liam. Julie also has two children from a previous relationship.

Last night, it emerged that Julie's mother was also murdered six years ago. Eileen Sykes was stabbed 46 times with a kitchen knife in 1996.

Julie said: "When my mother died I didn't think it could get any worse, but now I have had my best friend taken away from me."

Mr Dunne's mother, Barbara Dunne, expressed her anger at the sentence.

She said: "At the time of his parole he will still only be 27 and that is no age at all to start over again. He's still living yet he has taken that away from Robert."