A TEENAGER was detained for life yesterday after admitting murdering his best friend in a drink and drug-fuelled rage.

Billy Dunwoodie was mortal'', having drunk three litres of cheap sparkling white wine when he stabbed 15-year-old Shane Jackson 55 times with a kitchen knife.

The prosecution accepted that he snapped after a drunk Shane waved a Stanley knife at him and cut his finger.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that both boys had been drinking and smoking cannabis in Shane's bedroom in Throckley, Newcastle.

After bingeing on bottles of cheap wine, Dunwoodie - who has no recollection of the killing - waited until Shane was asleep on his bed before violently attacking him.

Following the stabbing shortly after midnight on May 15 last year, Dunwoodie went around to a friend's house and claimed: I think I have killed Shane.'' Eyewitnesses described Dunwoodie, who was aged 16 at the time, as not seeming that bothered'' about what he had done.

Penny Moreland, prosecuting, said scientific tests showed that the defendant was more than three times the drink-drive limit at the time of the killing.

Shane was three-and-half times the drink-drive limit. Dunwoodie was arrested at his home, near where Shane lived.

When police went round to Shane's home, a second floor flat in Hallow Drive, they discovered his body and 32 empty cans and bottles.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Shane had suffered 55 stab wounds to his head, neck and back - with 33 of the injuries to his neck alone.

Paul Sloan, QC, defending, told the court: "He is still only 17 - there is time yet for him to grow, mature and develop the potential his teachers once identified.'' Dunwoodie, of Mayfield Avenue, Throckley, Newcastle, admitted murder at an earlier hearing.

Judge David Hodson, the Recorder of Newcastle, sentenced the teenager to life detention and said he must serve a minimum 12-year term before he can be considered for parole.