A THUG who stabbed a love rival several times and slashed the arm of a woman acting as a peacemaker has been jailed for four years.

John Selling was told by a judge: “This was an evening of complete madness brought about by vastly too much alcohol, with very serious results.”

Maidstone Crown Court heard that one of the victims, Shane Prebble, was the main aggressor.

Selling was caught on CCTV cameras thrusting a knife at Mr Prebble near the Liquid Lounge night club in Bank Street, Maidstone.

He also left Lorraine Goble, 18, with a serious injury before sprinting off with another man and ending up in the River Medway. He then had to be rescued by a police officer.

The case against Selling, 22, continued despite Mr Prebble’s failure to attend court to give evidence.

Peter Forbes, prosecuting, said it was plain there was a background to the incident late at night on May 1 last year.

“Shane Prebble was undoubtedly the aggressor at the outset,” Mr Forbes told the jury. “That is clear from his actions on CCTV footage. What is clear is Prebble was seen walking away from the scene when Selling, armed with a lock knife, followed him and stabbed him.

“You can see the defendant wielding the knife, making several stabbing motions towards Prebble and drawing his arm back and lunging forward.

“By the end of the attack, he suffered four stab wounds to his chest, two of them deep, and a superficial cut to his forearm.” Miss Goble was injured when she tried to intervene.

Selling ran off through the gardens of the Archbishops' Palace. He and another man ended up in the river, “either by mistake or design”.

Police gave chase and an officer hung over the railings so that Selling could cling on to him and be rescued.

After his arrest, Selling denied having a knife and said he had been drinking heavily. He claimed he could only remember being pulled out of the river.

“Last night, I don’t know whether I was right out of it or someone spiked my drink,” he said. “I was just out of it and I can’t remember nothing.”

Miss Goble, of Courtenay Road, Maidstone, agreed with Selling’s lawyer that she went out for a night of fun and it “ended in a horrendous way”.

Mr Prebble, she said, had been the boyfriend of her cousin. They broke up and Selling went out with her.

“Shane got the impression that John was seeing her behind his back,” said Miss Goble. “Shane was quite upset about it. He wanted to fight John.”

She said she suffered a damaged nerve in her left arm in the scuffle and had to have an operation. Stitches were inserted and she was left with a long scar. She will have to have a further operation to stop her hand from “clawing”.

Selling, of Heath Road, Coxheath, near Maidstone, denied wounding Mr Prebble with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He admitted unlawfully wounding Mr Prebble and Miss Goble and having an offensive weapon.

After the jury found him guilty by an 11-1 majority, Judge Michael Neligan heard that Miss Goble had been deeply affected.

She told in a statement how she suffered flashbacks and had not been able to go out in Maidstone at night alone.

“As a result of the attack I have been mentally and physically scarred,” she said. “I hope in time the mental scars will fade, but the physical scars will always be there as a reminder.”

Peter Walker, defending, said despite the cocktail of provocation, fear and drink, it was not “mindless yobbery”.

The judge told Selling: “This was a night of madness, during which, no doubt, you had too much to drink. Thus, armed with a knife, you wounded two people.”

Thomas Bruce, 22, of Camp Way, Maidstone, denied similar charges and the prosecution offered no evidence against him.