A DRUG addict who stabbed a man in the back with a kitchen knife was jailed for nine months yesterday.Jason Miller, 26, of Station Street, Ipswich, assaulted his friend Ben Tower in September last year, eight days after being put on probation by magistrates for possessing a small amount of heroin.

A DRUG addict who stabbed a man in the back with a kitchen knife was jailed for nine months yesterday.

Jason Miller, 26, of Station Street, Ipswich, assaulted his friend Ben Tower in September last year, eight days after being put on probation by magistrates for possessing a small amount of heroin.

Witnesses at the time reported seeing Mr Tower emerge from Miller's flat with the kitchen knife embedded in his back.

In mitigation, Miller's defence barrister Noel Casey told Ipswich Crown Court that his client was under the influence of drugs at the time of the attack and had since been in a rehabilitation programme at which he had made very good progress.

Judge Peter Thompson gave Miller credit for pleading guilty to unlawful wounding at the earliest opportunity.

He added: "You accept that you stabbed your victim on the back of the shoulder in an argument over drugs. That was very serious and the knife was sticking out of his shoulder as he ran away.

"You get credit for the fact that you have managed to address the drug problem which has caused you so much pain and difficulty in the last year but [the crime] is too serious for anything other than a prison sentence."