A man has been jailed for five-and-a-half years for slashing the throat of a Highbridge father who survived by stemming the blood with a doner kebab.
Jamie Edney, 36, (pictured right) was convicted on Tuesday of grievous bodily harm with intent to wound, following the attack in Highbridge in January last year.
Highbridge man James Hobbs, 37, infamously wrapped a kebab around his wound to stem the flow of blood from the five-inch cut on his neck.
Edney’s trial heard that Mr Hobbs had been out with his cousin to buy food before returning to his flat in Charlotte Court.
It was then that the neighbours got into an altercation outside Edney’s flat and Edney cut the father-of-one’s throat after he was accused of having an affair with Mr Hobbs’ girlfriend.
Edney, who narrowly missed the vocal cords of his victim, appeared at Bristol Crown Court dressed casually in a dark coat and gave no reaction as he was handed the sentence.
Judge Michael Longman told Mr Edney that although he accepted Edney had not started the argument, to pick up a knife was “asking for trouble”.
“You were at home that day with your partner when Mr Hobbs came to your door,” Judge Longman said.
“It is clear on the evidence that he banged very loudly on the door and kicked it as well. You heard the noise and answered the door. But before doing so you picked up a knife.”
“You say that Mr Hobbs lunged at you, that you raised your arms and in doing so you accidentally cut him. But the prosecution said effectively, in a single movement, you slashed his neck. The jury rejected your account.”
“I accept that you did not go looking for trouble. It was not begun by you. It was Mr Hobbs who came to your door and he did so in a temper. To answer the door holding the knife was asking for trouble … you selected the knife intending to intimidate.”
“I accept that you regret and didn’t expect the injury or the outcome, but when you use a knife in the way you did it is perhaps only to be expected.”
The judge added that he was giving Edney the lowest sentence possible due to the mitigating circumstances and handed him a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
The trial at Taunton Crown Court, which lasted four days, was told Mr Hobbs had punched Edney a couple of times before falling to the floor with the knife wound in the block of flats where the two men lived.
Appearing alongside Edney on Tuesday were Ian Anderson, 37, of Bishops Place, Highbridge, and Dave Jones, 38, of River View, Combwich, who had pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.
The court heard that under a “misguided sense of loyalty”, Anderson and Jones had burned the clothes Edney had been wearing on the evening of the attack.
But, Anderson had also convinced Edney to hand himself in to police and despite destroying potentially important evidence in the case, their actions had not affected the police investigation.
Anderson was given a community order and told he would have to complete 160 hours of unpaid work over the next year, while Jones was ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work. The two men were also asked to pay £250 each in prosecution costs.
