NEW YEAR celebrations turned to bloodshed when a handyman ran into the street brandishing a knife while high on crack cocaine.

Alex Besmir got into a row in the early hours of New Year’s Day at the window of his flat in Temple Street, Brighton.

Teenager Arman Patel was having a row with his girlfriend and was with Arthur Baylis when tempers frayed.

Besmir shouted from his window that he was going to leave his top floor flat, go down, and “f*** them up”.

He armed himself with a Stanley knife and launched an attack on the two men, leaving them with serious wounds.

Police who arrived at his flat found him covered in blood, which was also splattered over his face.

The 37-year-old appeared at Lewes Crown Court and will face deportation from the UK after he has served half of his nine-and-a-half year prison sentence.

Tim Forster, prosecuting, said the row between Mr Patel and the woman may have been what grabbed Besmir’s attention.

He said: “Besmir shouted from the top floor window, clearly angry about the noise from the street, threatening to come down and to come outside, and as he put it, to ‘f*** them up’.”

Both Mr Patel and Mr Baylis tried to defend themselves and fought back, but suffered knife wounds.

Mr Baylis was stabbed under his armpit, and suffered a punctured lung, while carpentry apprentice Mr Patel suffered injuries to his hands and forearm.

Mr Forster said Besmir entered the country illegally from Albania in 2010.

Jeffrey Lamb, defending, said there was “taunting” from people in the street towards his client, but said Besmir had taken drugs.

Mr Lamb said: “He is at a loss to explain why he acted in the way he did. He can only have been affected by alcohol and drugs. Clearly it was a substantial amount that he is not used to.

"It was suggested he was being taunted by other people in the street, and went downstairs.

"He says he is not a violent person.”

Besmir, who worked in property maintenance, has no recorded convictions in the UK, and the prosecution could not find any criminal record abroad.

Judge Christine Henson QC said Besmir, of Temple Street, had admitted two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm and one count of possessing crack cocaine.

She said: “You chose to arm yourself with a knife and come out of the property.

"When police came, you were covered in blood from the attack you subjected these two young men to.

“There is clearly an ongoing effect on both victims, and the psychological damage has been more long lasting.”