A JUDGE has spoken out about the need to tackle knife crime after man was jailed for two years for stabbing someone in the stomach.

James McGrady, 24, of Ivinson Road, Darwen, was sent to prison on the day Prime Minister Gordon Brown met legal chiefs and police to discuss the extent of the problem.

Tough measures are to be introduced after a dramatic rise in the number of knife deaths.

Preston Crown Court was told victim Alistair Fraser suffered an injury to the large bowel after being stabbed in the abdomen.

Mcgrady admitted the unlawful wounding charge after the incident, last summer.

Steven Johnson, prosecuting, told the court McGrady had been in a relationship with Charlotte Crowther for three years and spent time at her home on Watson Street, Blackburn.

He lost his temper when she suggested he had been fighting and he punched the bedroom wall.

Her brother James believed McGrady had assaulted her and McGrady armed himself with a kitchen knife, believing he was going to be attacked.

Mr Crowther and Mr Fraser were punching him and there was a point when he was pinned against a window. He was attacked initially by two and eventually by five and attempted to fend them off by waving the knife. McGrady accepted stabbing Mr Fraser but said he had not intended to cause him serious injury.

After the incident the four-inch kitchen knife was recovered.

Mark Stuart, defending, said the victim accepted he struck the first blow but McGrady should not have picked up the knife.

Judge Anthony Russell QC said: "The results of this case are a good indication why nobody should carry a knife.

"There was no intent to cause grievous bodily harm but the result was that really serious grievous bodily harm was caused."

He added that when knives were carried and used, the degree of harm could not be forseen.

He told McGrady: "This is a bad case. It is a bad case because of the consequences for Mr Fraser."

Anyone aged 16 or over who carries a knife could be taken to court, under new guidelines for police following the meeting between Gordon Brown, police and legal chiefs.

Previous police guidance in England and Wales was to prosecute adults caught with a knife, but to caution those under 18.

MPs have held a special 90-minute debate on the issue.