A man who sliced a friend's face with a kitchen knife during an argumentafter drinking vodka and taking cocaine has been jailed for the maximum five years after admitting causing grievous bodily harm.

Judge Tom Longbotham implemented a little-used power to pass a longer than normal sentence on alcoholic Nicholas Lovett to 'protect the public from serious harm'.

The judge had read the 28-year-old told a psychiatrist he feared one day he would 'hurt somebody severely or kill someone'. A pre-sentence report compiled by a probation officer also said he was at a high risk of re-offending.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, said the victim, Lee Mitchell, was a friend of the defendant.

The men bumped into each other in the Riverside Bar in Chippenham on Saturday October 6 and had a few drinks before going to Mitchell's girlfriend's house.

All three continued drinking and, as well as most of a bottle of vodka, the men also took some cocaine, the court heard.

Mr Meeke said "Lee Mitchell is unclear about how the argument started. He remembers arguing about two singers then being in the kitchen screaming for his girlfriend because Mr Lovett had 'gone mad'.

"He didn't remember being cut by the knife but remembered the blood streaming down his face and being in the ambulance and at the Royal United Hospital in Bath."

Paul Orton, defending, said "Here is a man who has got an alcohol problem.

"If he had not been drinking then this wouldn't have happened. He didn't intend to do it. They were friends, they had been friends for a long time.

"Both had been taking cocaine and having a drink together. An argument was going on at the time. In a flash a knife was used but not in intent. He doesn't remember a lot because he was drunk."

However the judge rejected the mitigation and said that in order to protect the public he was going to pass the maximum sentence for the offence of five years.