AN ADDICT who unleashed a “frenzied” attack on a longtime friend after accusing him of having an affair with his partner has been jailed for six years.

Darren Stewart, 37, was staying at the man’s house in the Windhill area when they spent an evening drinking and taking drugs on January 26.

Prosecutor Ken Green said that by the early hours of the following morning, Stewart was becoming “increasingly aggressive” and said to be hearing voices due to a mixture of alcohol and cocaine.

He accused the man, who had been a friend for more than 20 years, of having an affair with his partner, before grabbing him and “ragging him around” the room.

In the assault that followed, he hit the man in the head before picking up a pen and repeatedly stabbing him with it in the head and neck.

The man eventually escaped to a nearby garden and Stewart was apprehended by police, who had been alerted to the 20-minute fight by a neighbour.

Mr Green said that when officers arrived, Stewart first told them he had murdered someone before then saying he would kill his friend and “wanted to behead him.”

Stewart’s victim told police that the attack left him with a fractured cheekbone, a broken nose, and stab wounds to his neck and face.

In a victim impact statement, he said had suffered headaches and had stayed indoors in the aftermath of the assault to hide the injuries from his five children.

Stewart, of Hawthorne Avenue, Shipley, admitted charges of causing grievous bodily harm and the possession of a class B drug.

Michael Greenhalgh, defending, said his client, a plasterer and father-of-two, did not remember the incident and was in a poor state of mind at the time of the offence exacerbated by his drug use.

He said Stewart had written to his friend, who he described as a “truthful person”, to apologise and had expressed “genuine contrition and remorse” for his actions.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, told Stewart he had a problem with drugs, which led to a tendency for him to become paranoid.

He said: “When you are sober and abstinent from drugs, I suspect you are polite, courteous, and respectful.

“But on the evening in question, a mixture of cocaine and alcohol had the most toxic, poisonous, and wicked effect on you.

“You subjected your friend to a frenzied attack. You stabbed him repeatedly with a pen.

“You were in a hysterical rage.

“Twenty minutes of being beaten, I suspect, is equivalent to a lifetime of fear and terror.

“Fortunately the gentleman has made a physical recovery, but he may be scarred for many years. He is a true victim.

“The least sentence I can impose is one of six years.”