A MAN has been jailed for stabbing a neighbour so hard the blade became embedded in his chest.

Roger Bruce, 29, stabbed Shaun Boyles with such force the knife penetrated 4ins.

Mr Boyles had intervened when he saw Bruce arguing with two men on Colchester’s Greenstead estate.

A judge at Chelmsford Crown Court said Mr Boyles’s size saved him from any damage to his internal organs.

Bruce, of StanleyWooster Way, Colchester, was jailed for two years and nine months when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday.

Recorder Giles Eyre told him his actions could not be regarded as a case of excessive selfdefence.

He said: “You went into your flat, grabbed a kitchen knife and returned holding the knife discretely, so it was not obvious and holding a wine glass in your other hand.

“Mr Boyles came quickly towards you.

“He pushed and shoved, or maybe punched you to the chest.

“You could still have made your escape. Instead, when he came up to you, you stuck the knife into him and the blade broke off.”

Bruce was also given a twoyear restraining order to keep stay from Mr Boyles and not to enter Stanley Wooster Way.

The trouble unfolded in that road at about lunchtime on June 21 last year.

Andrew Jackson and his friend Trevor Cole, who are both disabled, were sitting in deckchairs in the car park of flats there.

Bruce arrived on the scene and exchanged words with Mr Jackson.

There was a background of trouble between the men and it was alleged Bruce attacked Mr Jackson.

Mr Boyles’ wife saw what was happening from her kitchen window and told her husband to go and help.

Mr Boyles, 49, pushed Bruce and he responded with what Mr Boyles thought was a punch to his chest.

He told the trial in November: “I looked down. I saw blood there and I saw a blade sticking out. I thought he just punched me.

“I was in shock. I was numb and I said: ‘I’ve been stabbed, call an ambulance’.”

Police and ambulance services arrived and Mr Boyles pointed out Bruce and he was arrested.

Bruce claimed he was acting in self defence, but a jury did not believe him. He was convicted of possessing a weapon.

He was cleared of charges of wounding with intent and assault by beating, but was convicted on a lesser charge of unlawful wounding.