A 24-year-old man has been jailed for five years for a near-fatal stabbing attack in Keighley town centre after he was riled about his appearance on the Jeremy Kyle Show.

During the late-night street confrontation Christopher Eustace knifed Damian Thompson in the abdomen puncturing his liver, Bradford Crown Court heard. Mr Thompson needed life-saving surgery to remove a kidney and his gall bladder.

Eustace’s reputation as a “hard man” meant he was carrying a Swiss Army-style knife when trouble flared in Cavendish Street on May 13, it was alleged.

The court heard Eustace, of Coronation Way, Braithwaite, Keighley, had appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show with his partner three months earlier and been wrongly labelled “a wife beater” by some people.

Eustace pleaded guilty to wounding Mr Thompson with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

Sam Greenwood, 19, of Whinfield Close, Braithwaite, admitted common assault on Mr Thompson and assaulting Sidney Smith and causing him actual bodily harm by punching him.

He also pleaded guilty to burgling Eustace’s rented home while on bail and stealing copper piping.

He was sentenced to 12 months in a young offender institution.

Prosecutor Bashir Ahmed told the court yesterday[thu] Mr Thompson approached Eustace shouting: “You’re the woman beater off Jeremy Kyle.”

Greenwood threw Mr Thompson to the ground and Eustace kicked him.

Minutes later, Mr Thompson confronted Eustace in an alley.

CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Thompson lying on the ground after he was stabbed and a taxi pulling up to take him to Airedale General Hospital.

Eustace told police he stabbed Mr Thompson in anger. He showed police where the knife was. His barrister, Stephen Wood, said Eustace was terribly sorry. His appearance on the TV show was widely known in the area and “what transpired was misunderstood”, Mr Wood said.

Judge Peter Benson said there was a background of provocation to the stabbing before Eustace stabbed Mr Thompson “in a fit of rage”. He said: “It is fortunate indeed that he did not suffer a fatal injury but he did suffer a life-threatening injury.”

He warned Eustace that a murder sentence would have been 25 years.

After the case, Detective Constable Debbie Gargon, of Airedale and North Bradford CID, said: “We welcome the sentence given by the courts today for what was a brutal and targeted attack which could easily have resulted in the death of the victim. He required emergency surgery and had a protracted recovery from some very serious injuries.”