A man who stabbed a friend after flying into a rage because he went to bed with his mother has walked free from court.

Anthony McVey armed himself with two kitchen knives and wounded Kevin Clark in the shoulder and hand.

But a judge passed a suspended sentence saying it was possible he would stop offending and become a useful member of society.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the two men and others spent the evening of April 4 last year drinking at McVey’s mother’s home in Bull Lane, Eccles.

McVey protested when in the early hours his mother invited Mr Clark to go to her bedroom with her.

Katy Fox, prosecuting, said: “About half an hour later, the defendant burst into the bedroom and shouted: ‘Get out of the house.’ Mr Clark got dressed.”

He went downstairs and was confronted by 23-year-old McVey, who ran out of the kitchen holding a knife in each hand.

As he lashed out, Mr Clark raised his left hand and suffered a deep cut. McVey tried to push him outside. They ended up in the garden, where McVey could be heard shouting: “I am going to kill you.”

Mr Clark was taken to Maidstone Hospital and treated for wounds to his hand and shoulder.

Miss Fox said McVey, now of Greenock, Scotland, had in May 2006 been given a suspended sentence for actual bodily harm.

He attacked a 73-year-old man at Ham Hill working men’s club in Malling Road, Snodland.

He was in breach of a suspended sentence imposed three days before the latest offence for using racially threatening language and assaulting a woman police officer.

Thomas Godfrey, defending, said McVey, who admitted unlawful wounding, had “issues” that could be addressed without sending him to prison.

“He can enter society as a much better and rounded individual,” he said. “If sent to prison, his problems would not be addressed. He would turn into a more rounded criminal.

“This offence arises out of a night of drinking. His mother retired with his friend. He didn’t know anything was going on with them.”

Mr Godfrey said McVey lived with his sick grandparents in Scotland and acted as their carer.

Judge Michael Lawson, QC, told McVey: “The obvious and proper course is to send you to prison. The probation service, however, think that with further help it may be possible to get you out of offending as a useful member of society.”

He imposed a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months, as well as electronic monitoring, a curfew from 7.30pm to 6am and 60 hours unpaid work.