A man who slashed his cousin's face with a Stanley knife after allegedly being attacked in his own home has been jailed for four and a half years.

Gavin Pinfield, of Charford Road, Bromsgrove, had denied wounding Richard Hamilton with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

But the 35-year-old was found guilty after a trial at Coventry Crown Court earlier this year, and the case was adjourned for pre-sentence and psychiatric reports to be prepared on him.

During the trial the jury heard that in May last year Mr Hamilton and Andrew Edwards went to Pinfield's home after leaving a pub to ask him for some tobacco.

It was said that Pinfield told them to go away without opening the door, but then came out and began pushing Mr Edwards to the chest, causing him to fall to the ground where Pinfield then kicked him several times.

Pinfield then hit Mr Hamilton six or seven times and pushed him towards the gate and onto a pathway before pulling something from his back pocket and making a swiping motion to the left side of Mr Hamilton's face.

Holding his face, Mr Hamilton saw blood dripping onto his hand and realised he had been slashed.

He was taken to hospital where he needed 25 stitches in a nine-inch gash from his ear to the corner of his mouth.

Pinfield said the two men had tried to barge their way into his house, and when he pushed them out they ended up fighting, but he denied using a knife.

He added that afterwards he went to phone the police from a call box, but saw a taxi driver and asked him to call them - and it had been confirmed that the driver did so.

At the resumed hearing at Warwick Crown Court, where the judge who heard the trial was sitting, Sir Andrew Watson, defending, said Pinfield had abused alcohol since he was 15 and has had psychiatric problems.

"On the jury's verdict a substantial prison sentence would normally accompany this man's actions, but I ask Your Honour to deal with him on the basis that he was under attack in his own home," he said.

"These two men visited his home. It is clear they were not welcome. They forced their way in and subsequently attacked him. He had access to a knife and used it to inflict a very unpleasant injury."

He accepted that the injury was 'horrific' but said that both complainants had considerable criminal records.

Jailing Pinfield, who had previous convictions for offences including robbery and assault, Judge James Pyke told him: "The victim of the offence was your cousin who, with another man, had called at your home asking for tobacco.

"It may have been the case that they exhibited a measure of aggression, but you resorted to quite unjustified violence. You caused what your counsel has described as a horrific injury, a 22 cm laceration from the ear to the mouth."