A man was left with a permanent scar stretching from his lip to his ear after being slashed with a flick knife.

The man was attacked by Kailan Mulligan, 29, while he was a party in Sheffield on August 10, 2020. Mulligan was jailed for two-and-a-half-years on Thursday - the day after his birthday.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Mulligan, of Harborough Close, carried out the ferocious attack on the man after binge-drinking and going to his cousin's house.

Read more: Yorkshire thug threatened man with rolling pin in terrifying phone robbery in row over cocaine

Her Honour Judge Kirstie Watson told the court Mulligan and the man had not met before, but he showed him the flick knife and then followed him to the kitchen, where he struck. The judge told Mulligan: "You lunged at him and cut him from his lips to his ear, and lunged to his stomach but he managed to avoid that. He required stitching.

"It is quite frankly, a horrific wound."

In a victim impact statement, the victim said he has been diagnosed with PTSD and suffers with his mental health. He said: "I hate people seeing me due to the scar on my face." Prosecutor Zaiban Alam said Mulligan had previous convictions for offences including harassment, and battery. He was sentenced to a short time in custody for the battery offence in March 2020.

He was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court
He was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court

The court heard Mulligan failed to turn up to his trial and handed himself in to police a week later and afterwards pleaded guilty to wounding. Mitigating, Richard Barradell, said he was drunk on the morning of the trial.

He said: "He is an intelligent man who did well at school and told the probation services he started smoking cannabis and started to lose interest in further bettering himself in education but he has always worked. He has started taking as many courses as he can and is a model prisoner. He is remorseful and is still a young man at 29 and was only 27 when it happened.

"Two years after the offence occurred he has demonstrated he can stay out of trouble. He was working and had been out of trouble although his alcohol intake had increased and he was struggling with himself. He is making very positive efforts to rid himself of alcohol and drugs. He is clean now and he determined. He won't be coming back to the court."

As she jailed Mulligan for 30 months, the judge said his victim is "traumatised" by what happened to him, and it was only five months after Mulligan had been sentenced for battery. She said: "Where a knife is used to slash someone's face leaving a scar it seems the only sentence will be a custodial sentence. In my view, it is only an immediate custodial sentence that is appropriate."

Mulligan will have to serve up to half of his sentence in custody before being released on licence.

Read next: