A DRUNK Stourbridge man who brutally stabbed a good friend in the chest after an argument has been jailed for 16 months.

Brian Dunsmore savagely attacked Gary Webb at the Lye hostel where they were both living, said Rachel Pennington prosecuting.

She said the two men who had both been drinking had spent time together before the argument and Dunsmore lashed out with the knife after suddenly bursting into his friend's room.

Judge Simon Ward told Dunsmore, of Cemetery Road: "This was an offence involving extreme violence, you had been drinking with a mate but he is not a mate anymore."

He added: "You, for some reason I do not understand and neither do you, you took this knife and you stabbed him in the chest."

Dunsmore had a record containing 33 previous convictions included offences of violence and the judge ruled only an immediate spell behind bars was justified for his actions.

Nicholas Tatlow, defending, told Wolverhampton Crown Court that 53-year-old Dunsmore still did not understand "just what aroused such a state of anger."

He said he accepted what he did could have had far more serious consequences but stressed it was a single blow and he had not pressed home the attack.

Mr Tatlow said: "When it was over he retreated to his room to await the arrival of police officers. He expressed immediate remorse for endangering his friend."

Miss Pennington told the court that Mr Webb had to be taken to hospital for treatment to his wound but fortunately it was not too serious.

She said Dunsmore, who admitted wounding, had first told police officers after his arrest that he had been attacked by his friend and he had been defending himself.