A Southampton man was blinded in one eye and suffered 15 stab wounds after he was viciously attacked and then dumped in the street, a court heard.

It was Alan Laidler, 36, who allegedly carried out the assault on David Osborne who was saved by paramedics after his heart stopped beating and he subsequently needed emergency surgery, a jury was told.

Winchester Crown Court heard how Laidler blamed Mr Osborne, 29, for stealing some herbal cannabis from his jacket and so attacked him with a knife.

Martyn Booth, prosecuting, said the incident happened at a house in Winchester Road, Shirley, last June.

After stabbing him unconscious, Laidler allegedly dumped Mr Osborne in the street before fleeing in a taxi. He was arrested a few hours later.

Mr Booth said there was “bad blood” between the two men after Mr Osborne had attacked two friends of Laidler’s eight months earlier.

Mr Osborne, giving evidence behind a screen, said the men seemed to have sorted things out but that Laidler got angry about the missing cannabis. “He looked enraged,” he said.

“He got up and came towards me with something shiny in his hand. I felt something, punching my neck several times. I passed out and the next thing I remember is waking up in hospital.”

Maria Lamb, representing Laidler, said it was Osborne who was aggressive.

She said Mr Osborne, currently in prison for assaulting his girlfriend Amanda Carrington, had attacked Laidler who had defended himself and stabbed him in the eye.

Mr Osborne also disagreed with her suggestion that it was another man, who was initially arrested then released without charge, who had then stabbed him several times.

Laidler, of Murray Close, Thornhill, denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent and four charges of intimidation, sending threatening letters to four witnesses. Analysis revealed Laidler’s DNA on the sticky part of the envelopes.

The trial before Judge John Dixon and a nine-woman and three-man jury is expected to last eight days.