Two women were allegedly stabbed with a fork at a Whitehaven house party by a drink and drug-fuelled man who was on the run from police, a court heard.

Stephen Lee Hodgson, 20, is said to have used a steak fork to attack both Amy-Lee Johnson and Kelly Marie Williamson on August 22 last year.

At Carlisle Crown Court, Hodgson pleaded guilty to wounding both women. He also admitted affray, possessing an offensive weapon at Westmorland Road in Hensingham and two counts of intending to pervert the course of justice.

Hodgson accepted both stabbing Miss Johnson in the chest and later sending letters in which he asked her to persuade witnesses to change their statements.

However, Hodgson denies using the fork to stab Miss Williamson, who sustained facial injuries. He claims that he instead hurled a curtain rail at her as he turned violent at the 18th birthday bash.

Prosecution and defence evidence was given in court.

Recorder Philip Curran will rule today on a preferred version of events and will then pass sentence.

From behind a screen, Miss Williamson told Recorder Curran how Hodgson became agitated at the party. She saw him holding the steak fork.

“He thought people were going to batter him,” she recalled. “He dropped it (the fork) on the floor. I went to pick it up.

“He went to pick it up before me. He has stabbed me in the eye with it.”

Miss Williamson went on: “I dropped on the floor. I was screaming. I don’t remember anything that happened after being stabbed apart from being on the sofa waiting for the ambulance to come.”

Miss Williamson also claimed she later received a phone call from Hodgson.

“He wanted me to drop the charges because he was looking at seven years for it,” she stated.

But when he gave evidence, Hodgson denied using the fork to injure her.

“I was on the run from police,” he said of a house party night on which he had binged on alcohol and cocaine. “I was off my head.”

He accepted injuring Miss Johnson with the fork but said he instead forcefully threw a curtain rail at Miss Williamson. “I know for a fact I didn’t stab her,” he added.

Neither, said Hodgson, had he made the phone comment to her that was alleged. He accepted, however, it was his intention to speak with her in a bid to head off court action.

Hodgson’s address was given as a young offenders’ institution in County Durham.