A MAN has been jailed for two years and five months after admitting stabbing a friend twice during a crack cocaine-fuelled argument at a Bournemouth flat.

Joshua Reid-Campbell, aged 21, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Tuesday, where he appeared via videolink from Wormwood Scrubs prison. He’d already pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.

At around 1am on October 26, last year, Reid-Campbell and Rebecca Ann Evans, aged 30, were with the victim, Terry Howrihane, at the victim’s flat in Cromer Road, Queens Park.

Prosecuting, Stuart Ellacott, said Reid-Campbell and Mr Howrihane, both crack cocaine users, had become friends after meeting while living on the streets.

The pair, and Evans - who had at some point been in a relationship with Mr Howrihane - were partying at the address when Mr Howrihane left for around half an hour, the court heard.

When the victim returned Reid-Campbell and Evans were sitting on a sofa together, and Mr Howrihane became angry, believing they’d been intimate in his absence.

An argument ensued which culminated in Mr Howrihane wielding a machete.

Reid-Campbell was wearing a stab vest and carrying his own knife, and as he was leaving the property he stabbed Mr Howrihane twice. One stab wound punctured his upper abdomen, the other cut his left forearm. The victim, who is aged in his 40s, required emergency medical treatment and surgery. He spent three weeks in hospital and still has nerve damage to his arm which has affected the use of his left hand.

Evans, who went on to hide Reid-Campbell’s knife in her bra, was arrested later that day and Reid-Campbell three days later.

Mitigating, Rebecca Fairbairn told the court what happened was “a fairly swift moving incident” with her client “lashing out in a moment.”

Sentencing Reid-Campbell, Judge Peter Crabtree told him: “All of you had consumed crack cocaine.”

Judge Crabtree, who accepted there had been provocation, added: “You used a knife which is a dangerous weapon and you wore a stab vest. You were prepared for violence. By your plea you accept that reaction was excessive.”

Evans, of Brook Road, Bournemouth, admitted possessing an offensive weapon at a Bournemouth Crown Court hearing in April. She was sentenced in July to four months in prison, suspended for 12 months, with a six-month drug rehabilitation requirement.