A “RESPECTABLE” young man who committed a vicious stabbing in the street has been jailed for 15 months and ordered to pay his victim £4,000 compensation.

Daniel Adams, 23, was told by a judge at Maidstone Crown Court that the amount would not fully compensate Gavin Longman and expressed the hope that he could claim the remainder from the Criminal Injuries Board.

Adams, of Main Road, Sundridge, near Sevenoaks, was convicted last month of inflicting grievous bodily harm and having an offensive weapon.

The court heard that Adams was on crutches having injured his foot when he pulled out a flick knife and stabbed Mr Longman four times.

A group of friends had hired a mini-bus to go to Graceland Palace restaurant in Tunbridge Wells on January 15 last year to celebrate the birthday of Mr Longman's wife.

After midnight they were making their way back to the pick-up point to go home.

Adams was out celebrating his girlfriend Charlotte Huggett's birthday with friends. Adams and Miss Huggett ended up in a bar and then looked for a taxi to go home.

Adams saw the minibus and asked if they could have a lift to Miss Huggett’s Tunbridge Wells home.

But the mini-bus was going in a different direction and as it was about to pull away there was a loud crash from the rear.

Adams was alleged to have used one of his crutches to smash a window, but he was cleared of causing criminal damage.

Mr Longman and others got out and marched Adams out of the middle of the road to wait for the police.

Mr Longman felt what he thought were punches to the left side of his stomach, but discovered he had been stabbed four times.

The victim suffered internal bleeding from the knife penetrating his stomach wall and he needed a major operation. He was kept in hospital for nine days, as well as having a long recovery period.

Adams denied causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was acquitted of that charge.

Dominic Webber, defending, said when Adams appeared for sentence that it was an unusual case.

“It was a perfectly ordinary night in Tunbridge Wells, where both parties came upon each other by accident,” he said. “They were all perfectly respectable people. All had a fair amount to drink.”

Judge Warwick McKinnon told Adams: "Let’s not forget that it was a flick knife you carried with you that night. No other sentence than immediate custody could be justified due to the gravity of the case, so off to prison you must go.”

Daniel Adams was jailed at Maidstone Crown Court for causing grievous bodily harm