A THUG who made a weapon out a can and slashed a DJ’s neck after being kicked out of a restaurant has been jailed for eight years.

Matthew Farmer, of North View Drive, Westcliff, waited outside the town’s African Taste restaurant, to launch the attack of August 7.

Farmer had been kicked out of the London Road venue after being verbally abusive towards staff.

The victim has suffered night terrors, anxiety and depression since the attack, Farmer, 34,was also in court for threatening two men in Southend with a knife after being kicked out of a home on November 21, 2020.

Peter Clark, mitigating, said: “These are not related incidents.

“He took the blade unlawfully and foolishly but for self-protection and it’s not something he’s done before.

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“The wounding offence is very serious and the defendant is upset at the impact on the victim and those around him.

“He shows genuine remorse and sorry for what he has caused, and in a letter he says he suffers with bad mental health and hopes his victim doesn’t suffer like this too.

“He had a very serious car crash months before this incident and was in hospital for six weeks in total.”

Sentencing, Judge Samantha Cohen slammed Farmer for waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack the DJ.

She said: “You were asked to leave and instead of going home you kept drinking and nursed an irrational grudge against the DJ who had been among the people who asked you to leave.

“You hung around the venue, I am quite sure, waiting for an opportunity to attack him. You saw he and his partner were packing his equipment into his car and you fashioned a knife out of a can.

“It was a weapon made by you while you waited for an opportunity to attack him.

“You approached the car, put your left hand in the window and slashed him across the neck a number of times.”

Farmer was jailed for eight years at Basildon Crown Court yesterday after being charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and with threatening someone with a bladed article.