A MAN who stabbed his brother after hearing voices has been locked up for two years.

Lee Simms knifed his brother, Dean, in the stomach and arm and had to be locked in the bathroom of his family home by their father to halt the attack.

A court was told how frantic father Richard held the door shut while his wife called for the police and ambulance service to come to their home in Grangetown.

Simms was arrested while paramedics took his brother to hospital to be treated for a wound to his abdomen and a partially-collapsed lung.

Simms, 33, accepted he could have killed his 32-year-old sibling, and told police: "I've stabbed him, they told me to."

The brothers are said to have been taking cocaine and heroin before the knife attack at the house in Tennyson Avenue, at 3.15am, on July 3.

David Brooke, prosecuting, said Mr Simms, his wife and their granddaughter were asleep when the drama unfolded, but he woke to hear his younger son shouting: "He's stabbed me."

Mr Brooke said Mr Simms saw his other son stumble into the bathroom and was so terrified for the safety of the others in the house he barricaded the door while his wife rang 999.

Sam Faulks, mitigating, said Simms had not wanted to take the drugs but had been persuaded to by his brother and had lashed out after he had gone to sleep. Simms told police that the drugs gave him the confidence to confront his brother about the drugs, and added: "He has been doing my head in forever and I just wanted him to stop."

Last autumn, Simms pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, but sentencing was delayed for the preparation of psychiatric reports.

Experts have concluded that he does not pose a significant risk to the public.