A man who stabbed another man after a row at a party has been jailed for eight years for causing grievous bodily harm.

But Rawle Jeffrey, 24, was cleared of attempted murder by a jury at Lewes Crown Court yesterday. He had denied both charges.

Mr Jeffrey's friend Clive Doyley, 25, of Pett Close, Whitehawk, Brighton, who had denied affray, was found guilty and sentenced to 12 months in jail.

Victim Joseph Nti, 20, from Brighton, was stabbed three times with a 9in kitchen knife and seriously injured.

He had intervened in a row between Jeffrey and a woman at the party in a flat at St John's Mount, Brighton, in April last year.

The blade passed through Mr Nti's forearm, severing an artery, and went into his stomach. He was stabbed again through the colon and in his back.

Mr Nti told the court he had punched Jeffrey but remembered very little about the attack.

He said: "I was weak and dizzy. Blood was spurting out of my body."

The court heard he staggered downstairs, leaving a trail of blood, and only survived thanks to the quick action of passers-by.

Earlier Jeffrey and the woman had rowed and Jeffrey had left the flat.

He returned with his friend Doyley and violence broke out. The stabbing took place in the stairway of the block of flats.

Jeffrey, of Greener House, Clapham, south London, told the jury he had picked up something in the fracas but he did not realise it was a knife.

He had told the court: "I picked something up from the top of a cupboard. We were rolling on top of each other and I still did not know what it was I had in my hand.

"I felt something wet and saw there was a lot of blood on Joe and me and he was saying sorry.

"I told him to go and went down the stairs. I didn't see him again."

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall told Jeffrey Mr Nti could have died from his injuries. He told him he had left the flat to get Doyley as his "muscle" and returned to exact retribution.

Jeffrey had denied both charges.