A TEENAGER high on drink and drugs knifed a 16-year-old in the chest at a Halloween party, narrowly missing his heart and puncturing his lung.

The 15-year-old defendant - who cannot be named for legal reasons - lashed out after his victim was involved in a "shoulder jostling" row with a friend at the party, held at a house in Bournemouth on October 31 last year.

Previously, he had split a large bottle of Courvoisier with two others, downed vodka and smoked around £20 of "strong" marijuana.

The boy said he has no memory of the stabbing, and was later shown photographs of himself vomiting and passed out in the garden of the house before the incident took place.

A judge at Bournemouth Crown Court heard the youth had not taken the knife to the party, but had been handed it by another before the incident.

Ellie Fargin, prosecuting, said the stabbing happened following a row between the victim and a friend of the defendant's.

"[Another teenager] passed a lock knife to the defendant. The defendant was then seen running up to the victim and punching him in the face. Other persons joined in the attack. It was a group attack, and several people were attacking the victim. At this stage, one witness sees something sharp or pointed in the hand of the defendant."

The victim suffered a two-centimetre laceration in his chest near his heart, and was taken to hospital.

The defendant went home and collapsed on his sofa, where he was discovered later that evening by police and arrested.

He was later bailed by police, and on April 12 this year, was brought into a police station by his mother, who said she had been approached by a known drug user who told her that he had bought drugs from her son.

She told officers her son had recently obtained a brand new pair of trainers he had been unable to account for, and said he was "acting like a gangster with money".

After being arrested and handcuffed, he was strip-searched, and officers discovered three £10 notes in his clothes, a small black shoulder bag with more cash inside under his top and wraps of cocaine and heroin between his buttocks.

He later confirmed that he had been selling drugs for some time, Ms Fargin said.

The boy admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and possessing a class A drug with intent to supply it.

Judge John Harrow told the defendant: "You are a 15-year-old boy with a mother who cares about you, so much so that she took you to a police station to make you admit to [dealing drugs].

"That must have been very difficult to do. You have been a handful to her. You seem to want to be a hard man to impress others."

The defendant was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders institution.