A SOLDIER who stabbed a young man to death and left his cousin in a pool of blood was jailed for life yesterday.

David Tillen, 26, was found guilty of murder at Newcastle Crown Court.

It took the jury just two and a half hours to find Tillen guilty of stabbing to death 21-year-old Steven Gibbon and of the slashing of his 22-year-old cousin, Graham Scott.

Mr Gibbon's parents broke down in tears in the public gallery as judge Mr Justice Longmore imposed a life sentence on Tillen.

Mr Gibbon was stabbed five times and died almost instantly, just minutes after Tillen had slashed the throat of his cousin in a Burger King restaurant in Sunderland, leaving him fighting for his life.

The court had heard how father-to-be Tillen was home on leave after he had completed a six-month tour of duty with the Army in Bosnia.

Tillen, of Wendover Way, Witherwick, Sunderland, was arrested a short time later but claimed both attacks were in self-defence. He kept up his story when he gave evidence in court, claiming he had acted because he was "scared and threatened".