A young mother has been jailed for life for stabbing a man who was fighting with her boyfriend.

A jury unanimously found Alison Walder guilty of murder yesterday and she was ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years.

Adrian Ede died after Walder, 22, struck him twice with a kitchen knife in September last year.

Mr Ede, 29, from Littlehampton, suffered a 19cm-deep wound which punctured his lung and he later died from his injuries.

Walder had run barefoot from her home brandishing the knife while Mr Ede and her boyfriend, Lewis Martindale, 22, were fighting outside in Parsons Close, Angmering.

Jailing the mother-of-three at Lewes Crown Court, Judge Anthony Scott-Gall told her: "You deliberately armed yourself with a knife to go to the assistance of Martindale who was fighting with the deceased.

"Despite warnings to drop the knife you continued and joined in. You deliberately stabbed Adrian Ede, not once but twice.

"This was a deliberate and cold-blooded stabbing in order to cause the deceased serious bodily harm. However, I believe it was never your intention to kill him.

"You have shown precious little remorse for what you have done. No sentence I impose will bring solace to his family."

The jury also convicted Martindale of affray.

Both had denied the charges against them.

Walder claimed that she was unaware she had knife in her hand when she inflicted the fatal wound.

The court had earlier heard that the two men were good friends before they fell out in the weeks prior to the fight.

On the night of the stabbing, Mr Ede and Martindale came face-to-face in the street and a fight broke out.

Martindale was warned he faced jail and bailed to appear for sentence on August 22.