A MAN who stabbed an old school friend on Christmas day, leaving a deep gash in his throat has been jailed for six and a half years. Victim Gareth Ellis, 35, went round to the home of Justin Mark Beilinsohn with a bottle of Baileys to wish his old school pal a happy Christmas. Mr Ellis also wanted to wish him well in his new home in Maes Cybi in Holyhead, which was in his street. But both had been drinking, they ended up arguing and fighting, and while Mr Ellis was defenceless on the pavement outside, he was slashed across the throat with a large kitchen knife. An original charge of attempted murder against Beilinsohn, also 35, was dropped on an earlier occasion when he admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Jailing him at Mold Crown Court, Judge John Rogers QC told him: “It was only a matter of providence that wound was no deeper and fatal.” The judge said: “You went to Mr Ellis, you punched him to the ground and then as he lay unarmed and defenceless you repeatedly stabbed him.” Most of the stabs caused minor defensive cuts to the arms but there were two significant injuries. The knife cut his left hand, severing the tendons. “But more significantly, the knife caused a deep cut some five centimetres long to the area of his neck. “You could not have complained if you had faced a charge of murder,” Judge Rogers told him. The only mitigation was his guilty plea but that had been at the last moment, on the day of his proposed trial, and when the case had been before the court on four previous occasions. Prosecuting barrister Robert Trevor-Jones told how Mr Ellis needed surgery for the most serious wound, which was a deep gash under the chin. The defendant and his partner had just moved into Maes Cybi. Mr Ellis remembered him from school, but had not seen him for some time. “On Christmas night he decided to pay a visit and welcome him to the street,” Mr Trevor-Jones explained. Initially, the atmosphere was pleasant as they exchanged past experiences and reminiscences. Both had been drinking, they quarrelled, although how it started was not clear. Mr Ellis’ only recollection was being in the kitchen in a friendly atmosphere and the next becoming aware of lying on the ground with the defendant above him. Later, Beilinsohn prepared a statement for the police and said that his memory was hazy but he claimed that Mr Ellis had provoked him and had been threatening, he tried to take him out to calm him down, was himself punched and could not remember anything after that. But he accepted responsibility for the injuries. Damien Nolan, defending, said that his client could not believe what he had done. He was sorry and hoped that Gareth would one day forgive him. The defendant had a drink problem which he had been tackling while in custody. It was his case that the complainant had made a threat towards a member of his family and in drink, the defendant miscalculated how to deal with it. He took him outside to calm down, was punched a couple of times, and the defendant then stupidly went back into the house and got the knife. | 
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