A DRINKER who stabbed a man in a revenge attack has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Lee Pennington armed himself with a hammer and kitchen knife after being told a friend of his partner had suffered a domestic attack.

The distressed woman, suffering a facial injury, went to the home Pennington shared with his partner late one night in August, Durham Crown Court was told.

She told them her injury was caused by her boyfriend throwing a glass.

Pennington, who had been drinking for much of the day, took the hammer and knife to confront the man supposedly responsible.

In the incident that followed he threw the hammer through the window of a house in Dene Crescent, Shotton Colliery, County Durham, striking a young man in the head.

He then stabbed the alleged perpetrator of the earlier glass attack, in the abdomen.

A third man who came from the premises was stabbed in the hand as he put it up to protect himself from Pennington.

The first stabbing victim suffered a collapsed lung, said Lesley Kirkup, prosecuting.

Pennington later claimed he acted in self defence when he was confronted by three men from the house.

The 25-year-old, of McGuinness Avenue, Horden, east Durham, admitted wounding with intent, unlawful wounding and assault.