A Sittingbourne man has been convicted of trying to murder a friend.

Boxer John Brazil, 22, stabbed his pal 26 times after a night out.

Now a jury has decided he did carry out the brutal attack on Remembrance Sunday, which left Ryan Abbott unable to remember the incident.

The victim woke up in hospital from an induced coma to discover he had been knifed in his chest, groin and buttocks.

Brazil, 22, of Barrow Grove, Sittingbourne, who did not give evidence, had denied attempted murder at his trial at Maidstone Crown Court.

Mr Abbott, 24, has no memory of the attack, in Manor Road, Rushenden, after meeting up with Brazil in a Sittingbourne nightclub.

Prosecutor Catherine Donnelly claimed Brazil had intended to kill his friend of nine years.

She told the jury the reason for the attack or its motivation were unclear, but that Brazil was "tired, possibly drunk, high on coke, and lost it" with Mr Abbott.

The defence claimed that some of the injuries were caused by Abbott's girlfriend Stacey Blythe, but she denied the accusations.

On his arrest former Westlands School pupil Brazil claimed he was the victim of a knife attack and had acted in self-defence.

The court heard Brazil and Mr Abbott had not seen each other for two to three years when they bumped into each other in Life nightclub on Saturday, November 11 last year.

They had trained at the same boxing gym and Mr Abbott, from Iwade, later told police he recalled chatting with his friend and there were no problems between them.

He will now be sentenced in August after reports are prepared to find out what danger he poses to the public.

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