A JEALOUS ex-boyfriend stabbed his victim in the face having convinced himself his former partner was seeing another man.

William James Greenaway slashed the male victim’s face with a Leatherman multitool during an altercation that he started at his ex-girlfriend’s address in Poole.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard the complainant was in the process of leaving the property with another man.

This was after they learned Greenaway, despite being subject to a restraining order, had messaged his former girlfriend to say he was coming to the flat.

The front door was forced open by the defendant before his attention was immediately drawn to the victim, who he knew.

Greenaway dished out blows to his face. The victim responded with an uppercut before the struggle continued outside.

The defendant left the scene in a car after saying the woman was his girlfriend.

The court hearing on Friday, May 27, was told the victim suffered two stab wounds to his face in the left cheek below the eye and just above the jaw line.

Sentencing Judge Jonathan Fuller QC, who jailed the defendant for two years and six months, said: “Imagine the blade which went to the lower jaw had gone down a couple of inches more and he had been stabbed in the neck.”

As reported, Greenaway, 31, received a suspended sentence and a 10-year restraining order in October after he threatened to throw acid in his ex-girlfriend’s face and said if he saw her with another man he would kill them both.

Judge Fuller QC said the latter communication was of “particular concern” to the sentencing given what took place with the stabbing on the evening of February 7.

Prosecuting, Stuart Ellacott said the victim went to hospital and received stitches for both puncture wounds.

After his arrest, Greenaway largely made no comment to police questions. In a prepared statement he denied being at the flat on the night in question and claimed he was in Southampton.

Greenaway, of Old Redbridge Road, Southampton, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding, possession of a bladed article and breach of a restraining order at an earlier hearing. These offences also breached the suspended sentence order made in October.

Mitigating, Richard Martin said the defendant was clean from drugs and he had taken time to reflect on what took place earlier this year.

“He’s able to express profound remorse for what has happened,” said Mr Martin.

The barrister said at the time of the offences Greenaway “had a number of concerns on his mind” and he relapsed into drug use.

“This was a man simply having a crisis but he is doing everything possible, I say, to help himself,” he added.

Mr Martin said his client had the multitool with him to force open the door and he did not intend to use it in any confrontation.

Judge Fuller QC said: “Whatever the position is, you took it and you used it with immediacy."

Dorset Police declined to release the defendant's custody image to the Daily Echo.