A MAN who stabbed a truck driver during a road rage confrontation outside Whitchurch was jailed for two years at Chester Crown Court on Friday.

Conor Jagodzinski, 28, from Accrington in Lancashire, slashed at John Fitzpatrick's stomach during a confrontation on the A49 near Wirswall on Friday, August 14, resulting in the victim needed life-saving surgery on his bowel.

As he was jailed, the judge told him he was lucky he was not facing murder charges.

The pair came to blows following a road rage incident that saw Jagodzinski deliberately force Mr Fitzpatrick's lorry into an emergency stop by driving at 20mph in a 50 mph zone.

In dash cam footage belonging to a witness, shown to the court by Simon Mintz from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the victim saw the defendant pull up in the entrance to a nearby caravan park and stopped to confront him.

Jagodzinski pulled out a six-inch knife early in the confrontation, and when Mr Fitzpatrick had moved to tackle him, he was slashed once across his stomach.

Mr Fitzpatrick continued to chase the defendant, who had tried to return to his bike, and knocked it over to stop him escaping the scene, before keeling over on a nearby verge as he experienced blood loss.

He was treated by two passing nurses before being taken to hospital for life-saving surgery on his bowel after suffering huge internal bleeding.

Jagodzinski had previously pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and carrying a bladed article, which reduced his sentence by nearly a third.

Whitchurch Herald: The attack took place on the A49. The attack took place on the A49.

Jailing him, Judge Steven Everett, Honorary Recorder of Chester, highlighted the involvement of the knife in what he called 'a minor incident', and said using the knife was an aggravating feature of the attack.

He also warned the defendant that he was lucky not to be facing murder charges, down to the work of the passing nurses and the surgeon who saved Mr Fitzpatrick's life.

He said: "This case undoubtedly passes the custody threshold. You decidedly, wrongly, to carry that knife and anyone who does it, should expect to go to prison.

"If your victim had died, you would have gone to prison for a minimum of 25 years. The carrying of the knife itself is an aggravating feature – you didn’t pick it up, you carried it in.

"On that day, it was a case of road rage; both you and Mr Fitzpatrick lost your tempers over what was in reality a minor matter.

"You should have just taken a deep breath and continued driving. Having conflict and confrontation doesn’t end well and it didn’t here.

"It is is clear that you slowed down and you wanted him to stop for a confrontation.

"You took that knife out and stabbed him once into his body causing serious blood loss in his bowel. Not doubt down to adrenaline that he carried on, but it was clear because of the blood loss, he became very ill.

"It’s only because of the intervention and the hospital, his life was saved."

Jagodzinski was jailed for two years for wounding with intent and six months for carrying the knife, but will serve them concurrently, and one year will be on licence.