A knifeman who stabbed his neighbour to the chest after kicking his wheelie-bins in a petulant rage has been jailed for five-year years.
Lee Craig Richardson could have killed his neighbour outside his home when he knifed him just below his heart following a long-running feud.
The victim suffered a punctured lung and underwent a blood transfusion after the attack in Whinney Banks, Middlesbrough.
Prosecutor Emma Atkinson said: “There’s been a great deal of animosity between the two parties, more recently in relation to wheelie-bins.”
Drunken Richardson, 41, came out and kicked his neighbours’ bins in the early hours of November 11 last year.
When confronted by the woman who lived next door to him, he kicked her in the shin, Teesside Crown Court heard on Friday.
And when the man of the house came out, Richardson struck him once to the lower chest wall.
The neighbour did not realise what had happened to him at first. He did not see a knife and punched Richardson to the floor before he went inside.
“As he got into his kitchen he became acutely aware of the fact that he had in fact been stabbed,” added Ms Atkinson.
The dad thought he was going to die from his knife wound as he was taken to hospital, where he stayed for six days.
The police found Richardson in his living room with a cut to his temple. He was persuaded to drop an eight-inch knife, and another five-inch blade was found in his pocket.
He told officers there had been “quite petty” issues between the neighbours and he kicked the bins because he was annoyed.
He said he could not remember exactly what happened.
Richardson, recently of Avondale Close, Grangetown, later admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, assault by beating and possession of a bladed article - his first offences for 13 years.
Robert Mochrie, defending, said: “There is no escaping the fact that this could have ended up being a murder charge.
“It’s perhaps the good fortune of both the complainant and the defendant that the heart wasn’t touched by the blade.”
He said there was a high degree of “slow-burn provocation” where Richardson was “pushed and pushed and pushed”.
Teesside Crown Court in Middlesbrough
He claimed Richardson’s life was made “a living misery for many many months” with anti-social behaviour, verbal threats and one allegation of physical assault.
This built up upset and frustration in a man of good standing with a wife and children who had worked to make something of himself, added Mr Mochrie.
He said Richardson petulantly kicked the bins and matters spiralled out of control.
He told how Richardson took the kitchen knife “in case there was any confrontation”, not to seek out the victim and stab him, and acted on the spur of the moment without thinking.
He said the attack was lasted seconds and was not premeditated.
“He accepts he should never have taken a knife outside with him,” said Mr Mochrie.
“You are genuinely dealing with a man who is sorry for his actions.
“It’s a real tragedy that he has landed himself if this position but he knows there’s no escaping that.”
The judge, Recorder Jamie Hill QC, said: “This is a classic and appalling example of what can happen when neighbour disputes get out of hand.
“It’s a mercy that (the victim) wasn’t killed and that you’re not facing a murder charge quite frankly.”
He said there was no provocation for the assault itself as Richardson started the chain of events that night with his “childish action”.
“I accept that you are genuinely remorseful for everything that’s happened,” he added, jailing Richardson for five years.
