A highly-regarded teen who guarded his motorbike from vandals with an axe has avoided jail after the “conscious decision” of a judge.

Kaine Tyrie, 18, wielded the weapon outside his home in Margate after yobs “gratuitously” smashed up the vehicle, his means of getting to work.

Adrenaline-fuelled Tyrie then paced Canterbury Road as thugs circled his home on a moped.

Police arrested him minutes after he was spotted on CCTV.

“Well-thought of” Tyrie told officers he was the victim of vandalism and knew the moped louts carried knives.

He claimed to have held the axe to defend his property from being damaged further. Tyrie said he would not use it but wanted to show vandals “he was not p***ing about,” prosecutors said.

“He agreed his reaction was not reasonable but he hadn’t given it any thought and he was acting on pure adrenaline,” Olivia Haggar, prosecuting, said.

"I consider sentencing you in accordance with the guidelines would result in a significant injustice..."

Tyrie was charged and pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article, which carries a maximum four years custodial sentence.

The hardware store worker, of previous good character, could have his hopes of becoming a police officer dashed now he has a criminal record, the court heard.

But Judge Simon James, Canterbury’s most senior judge, said Tyrie is “well-thought of” by colleagues and it is likely “many will understand” his actions taken “in the heat of the moment” on July 22.

“Your actions were not only out of character but were provoked by the criminal actions of others who had gratuitously damaged your vehicle," he said.

“Although you taking the law into your own hands cannot be condoned, it is likely that many will understand why you chose to act as you did in the heat of the moment,” he said.

The judge told Tyrie his early guilty plea, genuine remorse and previous good character would make an immediate spell in prison “unjust and disproportionate”.

“Indeed, I go further. On being provoked as you were, I consider sentencing you in accordance with the guidelines would result in a significant injustice and I am making a deliberate and conscious decision to move outside the guidelines,” he added.

Tyrie, of Canterbury Road, Margate, who was supported by his mother in the public gallery, had not made any threatening gestures with the axe and fully cooperated with police, the court heard.

He was handed 100 hours of unpaid work.

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