A LEGAL student who stabbed a neighbour so badly he had to wear a colostomy bag for 18 months has been jailed for nine years.

Victim Shamas Khan had his colon severed in a major outbreak of street violence in Blackburn, witnessed by dozens.

His attacker, Hamza Ishtiaq, claimed to have lost his cool after his mother Nabila had been assaulted by a rival family from three doors down in Whalley New Road.

Jailing him, Judge Jonathan Gibson said: "Sadly this amply demonstrates what happens when a person goes out of doors with a knife, particularly in such a volatile situation such as this."

Ishtiaq denied causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Khan, affray and possession of an offensive weapon but was convicted after a trial.

He had also admitted to an affray charge, in relation to the same family, five months earlier, and was the subject of a suspended prison sentence before the stabbing.

Mark Kellet, prosecuting at Burnley Crown Court, said the stabbing incident dated back to June 2017.

In a clash between feuding neighbours, Ishtiaq's mother was assaulted and the defendant's first involvement had been to shepherd female members of his family back to his home, the court heard.

But Ishtiaq, then aged 20, returned to the confrontation and exchanged threats with members of the Khan family, the court was told.

Mr Kellet said the defendant then returned to the family home briefly and picked up a kitchen knife.

He told the court it was the prosecution case he had tried to conceal it when he went back to the fray.

Moments later Ishtiaq's teenage nephew, Shamas Malik, who had been having his hair cut nearby, burst in and started to intimidate the Khans.

Mr Kellet said when Shamas Khan then hit the teen with a rounders bat, Ishtiaq stabbed him once in the stomach.

The court heard the victim had to wear a colostomy bag for more than 18 months, after his colon was severed.

James Doyle, defending, said his client, who had signed up for a law degree at Blackburn College before the incident, had initially acted in defence of his mother and aunt, in the face of violence from much older men.

Several others, from both families, have previously been sentenced by Judge Gibson, over their roles in the fracas.