A MAN who stabbed his drug addict friend four times after the pair fought in the street has been jailed for six years.

Wayne Armstrong, 29, used a kitchen knife to attack Jeffrey Brown, who later underwent emergency surgery to remove a kidney.

Both men had taken heroin and vallium before the fight in front of passers-by in Grange Road, Darlington, in March.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Armstrong, known as Pig Ear, and Mr Brown had been staying with their girlfriends in flats in Grange Road.

On the day of the attack, Mr Brown had argued with Armstrong's girlfriend, who was working in a nearby garage. A confrontation took place in the flats later that afternoon.

David Brooke, prosecuting, said both men decided they were going to go outside to fight, where Armstrong stabbed Mr Brown four times and slashed his arm, saying he had verbally abused his girlfriend.

Mr Brown, 31, who received treatment from a passing nurse, was taken to hospital for treatment to his injuries, initially thought to be life-threatening.

Armstrong left the scene in a car and dropped the knife down a drain in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, although it was recovered when he told police where it was.

He was arrested in North Road, Durham, after police issued wanted posters of him.

Armstrong had been due to face trial for attempted murder, but a not guilty verdict was returned on that charge after he pleaded guilty to a lesser offence of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Rod Hunt, for Armstrong, said the offence was not pre-meditated and that his client had grabbed the knife from the kitchen in the heat of the moment.

Armstrong, of Beaumont Close, Newton Aycliffe, had previous convictions for drug-related offences and had been convicted for attacking his stepfather with broken crockery and a glass ornament.

Jailing him, Judge Peter Fox said the attack had been dreadful and terrifying and said the aggravating feature of a knife being used in a public place was unacceptable