A WIRRAL man stabbed his friend with a potato knife and attacked him with a hammer after they had both attended a funeral, a court heard.

Terence Jones, 49, left his victim, Stephen Magee, with wounds to his head, shoulder and left arm following the attack in Seacombe in December 2020. 

At Liverpool Crown Court, Kevin Slack, prosecuting, described how on December 17 the two men went to a funeral of a mutual friend at Landican Cemetary.

Mr Magee had given them both a lift but left before Jones, who later called his friend to pick him up.

They both arrived at an address in Seacombe at around 6.45pm, but once there Jones, who admitted drinking and smoking cannabis, became aggressive towards Mr Magee and asked him to leave. 

As Mr Magee was by the front door, Jones attacked with him a hammer, hitting him around the head, before stabbing him three times with a potato knife.

The victim fled but Jones chased after him and continued to shout threats leaving Mr Magee afraid to go back to the address despite leaving his car keys there. 

Police officers later attended the address and although Jones was not there they found a claw hammer in the communal area of the property. 

Jones was arrested on December 23 2020 but blamed Mr Magee for the incident and continued to deny the charges until he pleaded guilty to an assault charge on the day of his trial.

In a victim personal statement read to the court by Mr Slack, Mr Magee described how the attack had left him suffering from "regular headaches".

"I don't like to go out anymore," he said. "I panic if anyone holds a knife for no reason. It has caused me untold stress and left me upset and frightened. 

"My life is not as full as it once was." 

Mr Slack added that Jones, of Cross Hey Avenue, Prenton, had 23 previous convictions for 45 offences , including assaulting a police constable and intimidating a witness.

In 2011 he was jailed for seven and a half years for battering another man with a golf club and in June 2020 he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without insurance and failing to provide a specimen of blood for which he received a 12 month sentence suspended for 18 months.

Max Saffman, defending, said there had been a "significant change of direction" in Jones' life since the incident with support workers describing him as making "tremendous progress". 

"This a different Mr Jones then the one that was at that funeral," added Mr Saffman. "He now has accommodation and the support he needs."

Judge Louise Brandon said Jones needed to "break the cycle of homelessness and criminality" bit she acknowledged the progress he had made and added "there are occasions when it is right to pass a merciful sentence."

She handed Jones a 22 month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and imposed and eight month curfew between 8pm-6am. 

He will also have to complete 60 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement with Judge Brandon also imposing a 10 year restraining order not to contact Mr Magee.