A YOUNG man was slashed across the face while trying to act as peacemaker during a night out, a court heard.

Colin Holmes, 26, who carried out the attack while high on a mix of strong lager and pills, was jailed for three-and-a-half years yesterday.

Durham Crown Court heard how his victim intervened when a friend celebrating a birthday in Chester-le-Street allegedly groped two passing girls. The man stepped in to apologise for his friend's behaviour.

Peter Schofield, prosecuting, said that Holmes pulled out a bladed instrument with which he struck the man, slashing his face from his left ear to his mouth.

Mr Schofield said a saliva gland was severed and required micro-surgery to repair. He was in hospital for five days and still suffers numbness round the mouth, a year on.

Peter Walsh, mitigating, said that Holmes had little recollection of the incident, due to his condition, but he conceded his reaction to the incident was "totally inappropriate". At the time Holmes was suffering depression and had suffered a number of family bereavements.

Passing sentence, Judge David Wood said that given the drink and drugs he had taken, and the fact he was armed with a knife, Holmes was "a time bomb waiting to go off".

Holmes, of Canterbury Close, Great Lumley, near Chester-le-Street, had admitted wounding with intent at a previous hearing