A doctor described a knife attack on a teenage boy as "frenzied".

Home Office pathologist Dr Nicholas Hunt was giving evidence at Lewes Crown Court yesterday.

It is the second week of the trial of Gemma McGarvie, 18, of South Terrace, Littlehampton, and Lorraine Large, 22, of Foxes Crofts, Barnham, near Bognor.

The lesbian couple deny the attempted murder and malicious wounding of a 13-year-old boy.

The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, was stabbed 23 times and left for dead in grass near the seafront after a party at McGarvie's flat in December last year.

Dr Hunt told the jury he had examined the wounds on the boy's body and recorded both stab and cut marks, including a 13cm gash around the throat.

He said the attack displayed characteristics of a frenzied stabbing, especially the closely-grouped wounds on the boy's back.

Dr Hunt said: "There are cases where the injuries are even closer together but there are elements here which suggest this, including the injuries on the back of the body."

The jury was shown colour photographs of the boy's injuries.

Dr Hunt told the court they could have been inflicted by more than one knife.

He said: "It is possible they have been inflicted with the same weapon.

"But they could also have been inflicted with two separate weapons, such as a craft knife or Stanley knife."

Dr Hunt also described a scratch on the teenager's face, which he believed had been caused by a fingernail.

The trial continues.