A KNIFEMAN who lay in wait for a stranger to leave a bar before plunging a blade into his face was jailed for four years yesterday.

Neil Longstaff could give no explanation as to why he singled out 25-year-old Jamie Boothe and attacked him with a knife he had hidden up his sleeve.

The incident happened as the men, who were strangers, left the Roker Hotel, in Sunderland, at closing time on March 6.

The attack left construction worker Mr Boothe, originally from Sunderland, with a 4cm wound to his cheek, requiring stitches inside and out.

Bridie Smurthwaite, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court yesterday: "The complainant felt a blow to his left cheek and he thought he had been punched.

"At that point Mr Boothe's friend dragged him away and pointed out he was bleeding. It was then he saw his clothes were covered in blood and he realised he had been stabbed."

Longstaff, of Kettlewell Drive, Bradford, admitted wounding with intent at an earlier hearing.

His barrister, Brian Russell, told the court yesterday: "No rational explanation for this offence exists."

Mr Russell said Longstaff, who has no convictions in the last 15 years, is "disgusted" with his behaviour that night.