TWO brothers have been jailed for more than five years after smashing their way into a house and attacking a terrified man with knives.

Jonathan Whitworth was watching television at a friend’s home hours after being involved in a fight with Marty Bates, 20, Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday.

Suddenly the front door was booted off its hinges and Bates burst in with his brother Dwayne, 19, both carrying knives. Mr Whitworth tried to run, but he was pulled to the floor, and Marty Bates – waving a knife with a 6in blade – shouted, ‘Stab him!’.

Dwayne Bates stuck a knife into Mr Whitworth’s mouth, who bit down on the blade to stop it going down his throat, said Graeme Gaston, prosecuting.

Mr Whitworth’s friend, Anthony Foster, barricaded himself in the bathroom as he phoned the police.

When he re-emerged, he found Mr Whitworth lying on the floor bleeding.

When police arrived at the house in Hurworth Street, Hartlepool, they saw the brothers hurling a television set across the room.

They recovered a switchblade and a ceremonial knife.

Mr Gaston said that the brothers had stamped on and kicked Mr Whitworth while he lay bleeding on the floor.

Richard Herrmann, defending, said Dwayne Bates had had a drink problem since he was 12 and he had led a chaotic lifestyle, while Jim Withyman, for Marty Bates, said the elder brother had drunk three litres of strong cider that day.

Dwayne Bates, of West View Road, Hartlepool, and Marty Bates, of Nicholson Way, Hartlepool, were both jailed for five years and nine months after admitting aggravated burglary with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.