A man who suffered a stab wound to the chest also had a potentially fatal ten-centimetre wound to his neck leaving the knife tip snapped off, a jury has heard.

Karl Glease suffered at least nine knife injuries, including three serious stab wounds, which left him in hospital for a month while he recovered.

Kenneth Walton is accused of attempting to murder Mr Glease moments after he was kicked out of his house for attacking his girlfriend, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Dr Nigel Cooper, a Home Office pathologist, told jurors that the injured man had suffered a stab wound to the neck, which resulted in the tip of the blade snapping off, a stab to his chest and a puncture wound through his cheek into his mouth.

Giving evidence during the trial of the 30-year-old, Dr Cooper said: “Mr Glease was given almost three pints of blood which shows that he had lost a significant amount of blood, an amount that was potentially life-threatening.”

Describing the stab wound to the neck, he said: “Clearly, the tip has broken off for some reason, the obvious explanation is that it has gone into the bone, the knife has moved and the tip has snapped off.”

Dr Cooper told the jury that the neck wound was just a centimetre or two from severing Mr Glease’s carotid artery or jugular vein.

He added: “The one in the neck (knife wound) and one on the front of his chest could have caused death.”

The court had heard how Mr Glease had been drinking with the defendant and his girlfriend minutes before he was stabbed and slashed with a knife outside his County Durham home.

Paramedics were called to his address on Ely Terrace, Stanley just after 10.20pm on Saturday, June 22 this year.

Walton was arrested in the early hours of the following morning at his sister’s home.

He told detectives he never intended to seriously harm Mr Glease during his police interview.

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The defendant accepts that he caused the injuries but maintains that he acted in self-defence after the alleged victim attacked him with a golf.

Walton, of Windsor Street, Trimdon Station, County Durham, denies attempted murder, wounding with intent, grievous bodily harm, possession of a bladed article and assault by beating.

Earlier in the trial, jurors watched a video-recorded police interview where Mr Glease said he thought he had been punched in the chest until he saw his blood spurting into the air.

“The blood was just p****** out of my chest and said - ‘the b****** has just stabbed me’. I said to his girlfriend – ‘you need to call an ambulance’ as the blood was pouring out of me chest,” he said.

The trial continues.