A gardener who slashed his friend's throat during a drunken row has been jailed for life.

Robert Morris, 41, denied murdering Grant Flame during a nine-day trial at Lewes Crown Court but the jury took less than three hours to unanimously convict him.

During the trial, the court heard how violence broke out at Morris' flat in Broadwater Road, Worthing, on the night of January 24.

Morris had spent the day drinking cider with Mr Flame and Marion Goldsmith, who was Mr Flame's girlfriend and a former lover of Morris.

Morris told the court he accidentally killed Mr Flame, a father-of-three from Worthing, in self-defence after he was attacked.

But the prosecution described the killing as brutal and said whatever happened in the flat that night, there was no dispute that Mr Flame had been left dying in a pool of blood while Morris had done nothing to help him.

Morris, who is profoundly deaf and gave his evidence through an interpreter, said trouble started when Miss Goldsmith and Mr Flame began arguing about how they were going to get home.

Morris said he suggested Miss Goldsmith slept on his sofa but Mr Flame would have to leave the flat.

He said Mr Flame suddenly attacked him, punching him repeatedly and trying to strangle him. He said he picked up a craft knife and brandished it in an attempt to ward off Mr Flame.

He told the court: "Grant was really strangling me and I couldn't judge the distance between where Grant's head was and my arm. It was a desperate act to make him back off."

The jury heard how Mr Flame had staggered from the flat and collapsed in the hallway outside. An elderly resident found him and called an ambulance but he was dead when paramedics arrived.

Police officers followed a trail of blood back to Morris' flat and he and Miss Goldsmith were arrested. She was later released without charge.

Judge Brown told Morris Mr Flame's death was a vicious killing.

He said: "No doubt fuelled by the alcohol and the anger about what was happening in your room, you deliberately armed yourself with a knife and, without hesitation, you viciously attacked and killed an unarmed man."