A MOTHER turned her son into police after he confessed to a frenzied knife attack on a 14-year-old girl, a jury heard.

Jessica Knight was stabbed around 20 times in a park in Astley Village, Chorley, in January and was discovered bleeding by passers-by.

French national Kristofer Beddar, 21, of Daisy Hill Drive, Adlington, accepts causing her injuries but denies the charge of attempted murder, Preston Crown Court heard.

Prosecuting, William Waldron QC, said: ”The Crown rejects that denial. Our case is straightforward.

“He had lost his temper for some reason or other as he was prone to do, and having done so perpetrated a frenzied attack upon Jessica Knight, being unable to stop once he had started.”

Beddar was living with members of his English family at the time of the incident.

The court heard that after watching a television news report about the stabbing the evening after the attack, Beddar told his mother: “I think it was me, Mum.”

Marion Beddar took her son to the local police station that night and told an officer at the counter: “This is my son. I have brought him in. He is responsible for the stabbing.”

Beddar says he has no recollection of any attack after drinking a half bottle of Jack Daniels that afternoon.

Mr Waldron said: “The defendant’s attack of amnesia for the critical moment is borne out of convenience and for no other reason.”

He told the jury the amount of alcohol Beddar claims to have consumed before the attack was “modest” and “nowhere near enough” to be considered a factor.

”We submit that that suggestion is fanciful and borne out of a desire to withhold the truth.”

The court heard that days before the January 21 attack, Beddar’s 12-week contract with a local Tesco store had finished and not been renewed.

The following day, the 21-year-old took the clothing he had been wearing at the time of the attack and threw it under a bridge near his home. One training shoe was later found nearby and another was discovered in a canal.

That evening, after watching a segment about Jessica’s attack on the news, Beddar retreated to his room and later made the confession to his mother.

Jessica, now 15, had finished school for the day and was walking through the park listening to her iPod on her way to meet a friend.

She was stabbed around 20 times and sustained life-threatening wounds to her neck, abdominal area and chest.