A PENSIONER who viciously stabbed a man in a “cold and calculated” attack in a busy Southampton pub has been jailed.

James Dunlop repeatedly thrust a knife at punter David Byrne in front of horrified customers in the Juniper Berry pub.

The dramatic drunken scenes unfolded following one of the biggest football games of the season, the FA Cup final.

CCTV footage played to Southampton Crown Court shows Dunlop lashing out at least three times with one of two knives he was carrying in preparation.

Now he is behind bars for six years after being sentenced for wounding with intent and possession of a bladed article.

Dunlop, 76, of Upper Bugle Street, admitted the charges.

The court heard how a drunken row flared between the two men in the Castle Square pub after Arsenal and Aston Villa met in the cup tie on May 30.

Prosecutor Tim Court told the court how 54-year-old Mr Byrne was singing mocking songs about Dunlop.

The court heard how staff member Donna Salmon tried to calm Dunlop down outside but the pensioner was heard to say “I’m going to stab him”.

He later returned home to collect the two knives, the court heard.

Mr Court said: “He came up to the aggrieved and stabbed him repeatedly in the stomach.”

Mr Byrne, who desperately lashed out causing a cut over Dunlop’s right eye, suffered a punctured intestine and laceration to his arm.

Following emergency surgery he suffered respiratory failure and spent a week in intensive care before making a recovery, the court heard.

In mitigation, David Reid claimed Mr Byrne was “bullying” Dunlop, mocking his Scottish heritage and had punched him in a previous argument.

He denied his client had returned to the pub intending to stab him and had brandished the weapon to “frighten” him.

He said: “This is a sense of a man who snapped.

“The consumption of alcohol played a huge part in that.”

Dunlop, who has 21 previous convictions, but only one for violence following an assault in 1975, was sentenced to six years for the wounding with a concurrent 32 months for possession of the knife.

But sentencing him Judge Peter Henry branded it a “cold and calculating” attack and said: “What struck me was the calm way that you approached him.”

He added: “You took a potentially lethal weapon and stuck it into someone’s abdomen and there was a significant degree of pre-meditation.”

“It’s been argued there was only one stab wound but it is quite clear you tried to stab him several times and there were repeated movements of you are with the knife in it.

“You had already indicated to another witness you intended to stab him and you went home to get knives and came back in a cold fashion and stabbed him.”

He added: “You took a potentially lethal weapon and stuck it into someone’s abdomen and there was a significant degree of pre-meditation.”