A BRADFORD on Avon man who stabbed someone in a fight in Trowbridge town centre, leaving him fighting for his life, changed his plea to admit the crime days before he was due to stand trial.

Tyrone Triggs, 36, was due to appear at Swindon Crown Court on Monday after he initially denied wounding Dan Brown in June, when the two men fought in Charlotte Square, near Timbrell Street, Trowbridge.

But on Wednesday he was brought before a judge where he pleaded guilty.

The court heard he accepted he was facing a jail term after admitting what he had done.

Triggs, of Grist Court, Bradford on Avon, admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possessing a bladed article.

Simon Cooper, prosecuting, said the weapon went within 2cms of Mr Brown’s heart and pierced his lung lining.

The court heard Triggs had gone to sort out an argument with Mr Brown, who at the time lived in one of the flats in Charlotte Square.

He intervened after he overheard a phone argument involving Mr Brown, Triggs’ niece and another woman.

Speaking after the attack, Mr Brown told the Wiltshire Times he had been at home with Triggs’ niece at the time and went outside in the early hours to talk to Triggs.

He said: “We could hear shouting outside. She got a text from Tyrone saying he was outside so I went to see what he wanted.

“As soon as he saw me he punched me in the lip. He went for my face first and then my upper body, and then he managed to get me in the ribs.”

During the attack Mr Brown was stabbed with a tiling knife, which went into his lung and narrowly missed his heart.

He staggered home, where a neighbour helped with first aid until paramedics arrived and the air ambulance rushed him to Southmead Hospital, Bristol, for emergency surgery.

Speaking in the summer, while still recovering from his injuries, he said: “To be honest I’m so thankful to still be alive; this has definitely given me a new outlook on life.

“I want to personally thank everyone who played a part in saving my life, including my neighbour who pressed towels up against the wound to prevent me losing too much blood, and the brilliant air ambulance paramedics.

“Without them I wouldn’t be here right now.”

When the mechanical hygienist, who plays guitar in a heavy metal band called Severed Illusions, got to hospital, medics had to drain blood from his lungs.

He woke up with his dad, Daryl, at his bedside to learn that he had lost over a pint and a half of blood and was considered very fortunate to be alive.

In court this week Triggs said he chanced upon the knife in his pocket when he was looking for a lighter to ‘bulk up’ his fist.

He claimed Mr Brown was waving a sword at him during the fight, but accepted his victim had been disarmed when he used the blade, which he said he used for work as a tiler and had forgotten to take out of his pocket.

Tony Bignall, defending, said his client felt he had been ‘goaded’ by Mr Brown who was telling him they should “sort this out like men”.

He said he accepted he sought out Mr Brown, that he was the aggressor, and that he threw the first punch in what was a fist fight.

As he looked for his lighter, he said, he found he still had his work knife and extended the blade, using it to stab Mr Brown.

Simon Cooper, prosecuting, said the weapon went within 2cms of Mr Brown’s heart and pierced his lung lining.

Judge Robert Pawson adjourned the case to December 1 so a pre-sentence report can be prepared and remanded Triggs in custody.

The court heard that Triggs was jailed for 14 months in 2011 after he produced a machete and slammed it into the bonnet of a car.

Then he had been annoyed after his niece had been involved in a row over a borrowed jacket.