A MAN grabbed a kitchen knife and lunged at his girlfriend’s brother during a heated drunken row.

Durham Crown Court heard that it pierced the upper chest and shoulder of Stephen Hallas, who was initially unaware of the extent of his injuries.

The perpetrator, David Jonathan Priestley, immediately apologised, saying: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry”, as he ran from the home of his then girlfriend, Lyndsey Hallas, in Bowburn, near Durham City, pursued by her injured brother.

Martin Towers, prosecuting, said there was a further confrontation outside, in George Street, as Mr Hallas caught up with Priestley, who suffered retaliatory punches and kicks.

Mr Hallas was then taken to hospital by his girlfriend, described by Mr Towers as the only sober person involved in the incident.

He received emergency treatment for his wound, which penetrated a lung.

Mr Towers told the court that the wound came “extremely close” to a major artery from the heart, which could have proved fatal if it had been cut.

He said: “The victim spent several days in hospital, but appears to have made a pretty full recovery since the incident, on December 17.”

Priestley, of Worcester Place, Bishop Auckland, handed himself in to police three days later, on the eve of his 31st birthday, but said he was not responsible for the stabbing and subsequently maintained his denials.

He was charged with wounding with intent, but pleaded not guilty, at a hearing at the court in late February.

Mr Towers said that in late April, little more than a fortnight before his scheduled trial, his lawyer contacted the prosecution offering a guilty plea to the lesser charge of unlawful wounding.

The offer was refused and it was only on the fourth day of the trial, last month, that the prosecution finally accepted the plea.

Sentencing was adjourned until yesterday when Priestley’s barrister, Richard Bloomfield, told the court it was not a premeditated incident.

He said: “It is a stab wound and I have to accept it could have been lethal, but it was a single blow and he was immediately remorseful, crying: ‘I didn’t mean to do that’.”

Jailing him for two years, Judge Christopher Prince told Priestley: “You took that knife from the kitchen and stabbed your girlfriend’s brother. He has made a full recovery, but it could have proved fatal had that artery been cut.”

Judge Prince banned Priestley from contacting or trying to contact his former girlfriend or Mr Hallas for ten years.