A jealous man fuelled on lager threatened his ex-partner with a knife before smearing his own blood across her face, a court heard.

Cavan Hughes spotted his ex-partner and her friend sharing a cigarette at the back of her house on Bold Street in Accrington and ‘scaled the rear yard wall’ to confront them.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Hughes followed them inside and grabbed hold of a kitchen knife before threatening to harm himself and ‘cut his own throat’.

Prosecutor Paul Brookwell said Hughes then ‘rubbed [the woman’s] hands on the handle of the knife in an effort to convince her that she would get the blame for any harm inflicted on himself’.

Security services worker Hughes, 24, then grabbed a smaller knife and injured his torso causing him to bleed and ‘smeared his own blood on her face’, the court heard.

Mr Brookwell said Hughes, of Entwistle Road, Accrington, fled the scene with a knife after police arrived but was later tracked down.

The court heard how Hughes told the officers: “People have been telling me for ages that she’s been seeing other people. Tonight I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

“She been messing around and messing with me for ages but that woman is lying to me and now I know the truth. I’ve come round tonight and seen her there and like you would I’ve gone mad.”

Mr Brookwell said Hughes was tasered to the ground by police after he refused to drop the knife.

When interviewed Hughes said he had been in an ‘on-off relationship’ with Miss Smith over the previous few weeks.

Mr Brookwell said Hughes told officers how he had been drinking at the Calder pub in Accrington on the day of the incident and had drank seven pints of Fosters lager and taken paracetamol tablets.

Hughes also told police that he had been ‘feeling down about the situation’ and was ‘thinking about leaving the area or killing himself’.

Mr Brookwell said Miss Smith ‘became hostile’ after Hughes tried to speak to her by text message and then he claimed to see her and Mr Archer kissing when he arrived at her house and ‘felt like a mug and wanted answers’.

Hughes pleaded guilty to affray and possessing a bladed article and was given a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years with a five-year restraining order and £400 costs.

Cavan Hughes

'Very fortunate that no-one apart from himself was injured'

Defence barrister Mark Stuart said it was an ‘extremely unpleasant incident’ for the victim and it was ‘very fortunate that no-one apart from himself was injured’.

He told the court how Hughes is ‘genuinely sorry and remorseful for his behaviour’.

Mr Stuart said: “He is wholly aware that these matters are serious and, particularly when you pick up a knife, even if you’re only intending to harm yourself, things can go wrong particularly in drink when you take tablets as well.

“He accepts this is his fault and no-one else because, jealous or otherwise of what she may or may not have been doing, it was he who approached her. He was more interested in harming himself than harming them.

“The defendant invested heavily in the relationship. He is a man of good character.”

Sentencing, Judge Jonathan Gibson said: “You jumped to the conclusion, rightly or wrongly, that he was taking your place.

“You found it very difficult to deal with your emotions. These are serious allegations.

"You didn’t take a knife with you but when you pick up a knife and had drink and tablets sometimes very serious harm ensues.”