A cook has been cleared of attempting to murder a takeaway driver in the street after ordering he hand over his car keys, jurors ruled.

Raymond Wallace, of Margate, repeatedly stabbed the courier with a sharpened metal pole outside flats in his hometown.

The 49-year-old went on trial for attempted murder at Canterbury Crown Court last week.

But jurors cleared the D Suga Hut chef of the charge, instead convicting him of the lesser charge of wounding with intent on Friday.

During his trial, Wallace argued others caused Joshi Thomas-Johnson’s potentially deadly wounds after a row broke out at a gathering.

But prosecutors argued Wallace brandished a "metal rod with sharpened edges" before trying to kill Mr Thomas-Johnson as he tried leaving.

Wallace “thrust it quickly” into his eye before the violence intensified, Martin Yale said during his opening speech.

Wallace dragged Mr Thomas-Johnson outside onto steps leading to the flat, and then “blocked his escape,” Mr Yale said.

“Mr Wallace then stabbed him in the neck with the bar.

“Mr Thomas-Johnson was bleeding heavily. He managed to get past Mr Wallace and out onto the pavement,” Mr Yale continued.

Wallace then stabbed him in the buttocks and “walked away down the street,” the prosecutor added.

Neighbours alerted 999 and Mr Thomas-Johnson was rushed to London’s Kings College Hospital as medics worked to stem his loss of blood.

Under anaesthetic, specialist doctors treated Mr Thomas-Johnson for stab wounds to his neck, face and buttock, alongside a defensive injury to his hand.

Mr Yale said an eye injury was caused by “blunt rather than sharp force caused by either a fist or the blunt handle of a weapon”.

Wallace was soon arrested and, subsequently, Mr Thomas-Johnson’s blood was found on his watch strap.

"Mr Wallace then stabbed him in the neck with the bar. Mr Thomas-Johnson was bleeding heavily..."

But giving evidence last week, Wallace told the court the DNA was picked up as he “pushed past” the victim, who was being attacked by unspecified people at the gathering.

Giving evidence, Wallace argued he fired Mr Thomas-Johnson as a delivery driver months prior to the night in question but there was no animosity between the two.

But he said there was tension between Mr Thomas-Johnson and others at the gathering due to an unrelated matter.

Wallace told jurors he noticed Thomas-Johnson being attacked when he returned from the loo before “pushing past” the fracas and leaving the property.

“Did you have any kind of weapon on you while inside that flat?” his barrister asked.

“I don’t have weapons - I don’t need to carry weapons,” he replied.

Asked if he stabbed Mr Thomas-Johnson, Wallace replied: “No.”

Wallace, of Cliff Terrace, was convicted of wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon.

He will be sentenced on March 1.