A KNIFEMAN told a girl “alcohol makes me horny” before he lunged at her after she turned down his sexual advances at a canal.

Joshua Lovering, 19, came at his 16-year-old victim with a blade after they had been drinking at Two Locks in Cwmbran.

Andrew Kendall, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court how the pair had got in touch on social media and arranged to meet up in March.

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Lovering bought drink at the Asda supermarket in Cwmbran before they went to the bank of the canal where they met two of the victim’s friends.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins told the defendant: “These offences relate to when you agreed to meet a young lady.

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“She was 16 years old at the time and you were slightly older than her.

“After you had met you went to an area in Cwmbran after you had purchased alcohol and the two of you began to drink whilst together.”

The judge added: “It was during the course of your time with her that you said in effect alcohol made you horny and you wanted to have sex with her and the subject of sex was broached by you.

“She made it perfectly clear that she did not want any such association and in drink and with your ongoing difficulties you then took from your pocket a knife and began to self-harm.

“She tried to stop you from doing that and took hold of the knife cutting her finger in the process and threw that knife away.

“It is of great concern to this court that you produced yet another knife from your pocket and you openly said to the author of the pre-sentence report that you carry knives, firstly for self-protection which in itself is a criminal offence and secondly to self-harm.

“You have clearly got your own difficulties and issues.

“You came at her with the knife and took from her a mobile phone.

“As a result of the struggle that ensued she sustained injury to her stomach and her finger.

“They are not serious injuries but they could so easily have been.”

Lovering, of Pen-Y-Waun Road, St Dials, Cwmbran, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of a bladed article in public.

The defendant had been charged with robbery but the prosecution did not pursue that alleged offence.

He had no previous convictions or cautions recorded against him.

Jeffrey Jones, representing Lovering, said his client was autistic and had suffered from depression and anxiety.

The defendant, who appeared in court from Cardiff Prison, had already spent the equivalent of an eight-month custodial sentence following his arrest.

Lovering was sent to a young offender institution for 55 weeks, suspended for two years.

He was made the subject of a two-year community and ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work, complete a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement and pay a victim surcharge.