Man jailed for stabbing two teenagers in Brighton after New Year's Eve celebrations

Alex Besmir leaned out of his window of his Brighton flat at 3am to complain that the two victims and their friend were making too much noise.

After threatening to hurt them, Besmir armed himself with a knife and came out into Temple Street to confront them.

The victims - two 18-year-old men – were left with stab wounds and had to be rushed to hospital.

Besmir, 37, initially tried to claim that he was acting in self-defence but later pleaded guilty to two charges of wounding with intent and possession of crack cocaine.

He appeared at Lewes Crown Court this morning for sentencing.

Prosecutor Tim Forster said: “It seems that [one of the victims] and his girlfriend were having a loud argument.

“The defendant shouted from a top floor window, clearly angry at the noise from the street.”

The Albanian Besmir then armed himself with a Stanley knife, went outside and stabbed both men.

Emergency services were called and the two victims were rushed to hospital, with one telling ambulance crew ‘don’t let me die’.

Besmir was arrested and put in a police car, where he reportedly told officers: “They came to my house. What do you expect when they are six or seven people on top of me? It was self-defence.”

One of the teenagers had to undergo surgery for collapsed lung as a result of the stabbing, the prosecutor said.

In a statement read out in court, one of the victims said: “This is one of the scariest things to happen to me in my life.”

Defence barrister Jeffrey Lamb said: “Whilst not excusing his behaviour my instructions are that albeit I accept he was upstairs looking out of the window there was rather more taunting of him from the street that is suggested.

“Even Mr Besmir is at a loss to explain why he acted in the way that he did. It can only have been because of the effect of alcohol and drugs in his system.

“He came to this country he accepts illegally in 2010. He also knows that his actions will lead to him being deported back to his home country.”

Judge Christine Henson QC said: “When police came to your property you were covered in blood from the attack that you had subjected these two young men to.

“There has clearly been an ongoing effect on both of these victims. Two young men who are now fearful.”

Besmir was jailed for nine and a half years and his case has been referred to the Home Office.