This is the man who stabbed his stepfather six times in an 'utterly astonishing' attack.
Alan Brown, 44, shared a close bond with his stepfather Lee Hiley, who described Brown as his 'best friend'.
But following a row over an old motorbike the pair were restoring, Brown launched a senseless knife attack in the home they shared with his mother Teresa McCarthy.
Ms McCarthy was 'convinced' that her partner, Mr Hiley, was going to die.
He suffered a collapsed lung during the attack at the property in Cheadle, Stockport, but has since made a full recovery.
As Brown was locked up for stabbing him, Mr Hiley told how he 'still loves the defendant dearly' and 'just wanted him to get help'.
"Alan is my best friend and son to my girlfriend," Mr Hiley said, a week after he was attacked.
"He has been through a lot and isn't himself. Since Covid he has been a recluse which has made his mental health go really bad. I'm worried about him as a person.
"Although I'm the one in hospital receiving the treatment I wish for him to seek help for his mental health.
"I don't believe this incident reflects him as a person, this incident is a freak incident. I hope he is alright."
They had been fixing an old motorbike together, and a minor row broke out about the project.
"The pair had argued about who had put together a wire on the bike, in such a way that it was not working," prosecutor Andy Evans told Manchester Crown Court.
Mr Hiley became 'irritated' after Brown accused him of being a 'liar'.
The following day, on September 3 last year, Mr Hiley told Ms McCarthy about the row, and said he was going to confront her son.
After Mr Hiley said 'I’m not having you call me a liar', Brown attacked him.
He was stabbed six times, to the head, back, arms and hand.
Brown fled but was apprehended, and was originally charged with attempted murder.
But he later pleaded guilty to the less serious offence of unlawful wounding, following consultations with Mr Hiley and evaluation of Brown's mental state.
Brown, of Cornwall Avenue, Levenshulme, was jailed for two years.
His barrister Damian Nolan said Brown had lost his job following the coronavirus lockdown, and that he'd sought solace in smoking cannabis.
"I accept that you were suffering from mental illness at the time you committed this wholly out of character offence," sentencing judge Hilary Manley said.
She described the attack as 'utterly astonishing', given the 'very close and happy relationship' the pair had enjoyed previously.
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