A former grammar schoolboy who stabbed a friend who was taunting and goading him has walked free from court.

Danny Creavin knifed Matthew Green once to his stomach during a street row in Sittingbourne in which Mr Green repeatedly told his pal to "use it".

Maidstone Crown Court heard that 25-year-old Creavin even telephoned the police himself and, immediately after the stabbing, approached the attending patrol car. Several witnesses later told police it was Creavin who appeared to be frightened and Mr Green the aggressor.

Creavin admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm in June last year and was jailed for eight months suspended for a year on Friday.

Judge David Caddick told the engineer he accepted he was "pursued and provoked" by Mr Green but could not rely on self-defence as he had gone "over the top".

"You were foolish enough to take a knife and to use the knife and, as a result, cause a fairly serious injury to Mr Green. Whatever the circumstances, as I am sure you now appreciate, you simply cannot use knives in that way.

"I proceed on the basis that you were sorely provoked and goaded, and unusually that is borne out by independent witnesses."

As part of his sentence Creavin, of Shardeloes Road, Lewisham, must attend a Home Office accredited Anger Replacement Treatment programme. He was also ordered to pay £360 court costs and £1,000 compensation to Mr Green.

The court heard Mr Green sustained a 1cm wound to his stomach which perforated his bowel and required surgery and nine days in hospital. He has since made a full recovery.

Creavin has a previous conviction for assault but Judge Caddick said it did not believe Creavin represented a significant risk of harm to the public.