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Tunbridge Wells: Jack Friend jailed after stabbing victim in face with glass

A thug who smashed a wine glass on a man’s head and stabbed him in the face with it has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Drunk Jack Friend was a guest at the victim’s home when he suddenly became aggressive and launched the attack.

Martin Inglis had been to visit his friend Robbie Bristow at his home in Tunbridge Wells on March 20 last year.

Jack Friend has been jailed
Jack Friend has been jailed

Friend, 26, whom he had met two weeks before, was also there.

They all later went to Mr Inglis’ flat, where they ordered a Chinese takeaway and bought some wine.

“Robbie and I paid for it,” Mr Inglis told Maidstone Crown Court. “Mr Friend didn’t have any money. Everything was going fine - quite enjoyable really.

“But the more Mr Friend drank, the more demanding he got with tobacco and the like. Things started to have a bit of an edge. It’s difficult to say how much he drank. His glass was never empty. He had the lion’s share of the drink. I had a couple of glasses of red wine.

The case was heard at Maidstone Crown Court
The case was heard at Maidstone Crown Court

“I was supplying him with smokes. He got demanding for more tobacco and more drink. I said we couldn’t just keep giving everything away. He didn’t take kindly to it. He got quite aggressive.”

Friend first knocked Mr Bristow to the floor and kicked him. He then turned on Mr Inglis.

“I was rolling a cigarette,” said Mr Inglis. “I got up because I didn’t want Robbie to get hurt any more. Then pandemonium broke out. Mr Friend hit me in the face.

“It sent me reeling. Blood started pouring down my face. I couldn’t see. My dentures went flying and were broken. I was in shock. I really thought I had lost my eye" - Mr Bristow

“It sent me reeling. Blood started pouring down my face. I couldn’t see. My dentures went flying and were broken. I was in shock. I really thought I had lost my eye.

“I went down on the floor. I just remember being hit repeatedly. I knew it was an instrument of some sort because of the way I was cut.

“It sent me reeling. Blood started pouring down my face. I couldn’t see. My dentures went flying and were broken. I was in shock. I really thought I had lost my eye.

“Robbie had gone into the kitchen. Mr Friend was attempting to get in to ‘do him’, as he shouted. “He said: ‘I have done your mate. I am after you now.’”

Mr Inglis was taken to Pembury Hospital where 12 stitches were inserted in head and face wounds.

“It took months to heal properly,” he said. “I have scarring on my brow and in the corner of my eye.”

Friend, of Dowding Way, Tunbridge Wells, was convicted of unlawful wounding and two offences of assault by beating.

He was cleared of a more serious alternative charge of wounding with intent and another assault by beating offence. He denied all the charges.

Judge Philip Statman imposed an order restraining Friend from contacting Mr Inglis for five years.

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