THE best friend of a man who died after being stabbed in the street has been jailed for his part in the fracas.

Stephen Nambwe, aged 22, was involved in the scuffle in which Carlton Alexander was stabbed in the chest and stomach outside a house in Brightmeadow Close in Breightmet.

The killer, Ross Ashcroft, was convicted of murder at Manchester Crown Court on Wednesday and jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years.

Nambwe, of High Street, Great Lever, admitted affray at Bolton Magistrates’ Court in December but had to wait until the trial had finished to to be sentenced. He was jailed for 10 months at the same court yesterday.

Prosecutor Mark Kellett said Mr Alexander had visited partner Keshia Seaton’s home at 3.30am on December 13 and found four men in the kitchen – three friends of hers and a fourth man, Ashcroft, who was a friend of the others.

Ashcroft and another of the men were bare-chested because their stained tops were in the washing machine.

Mr Alexander left and telephoned Nambwe three times before driving to his home and picking him up. Mr Kellett said: “They returned and the kitchen door flew open with some force and Carlton Alexander and Stephen Nambwe were together in the doorway. It was clear to the witnesses and Ross Ashcroft that they were armed.At least one of them was armed with a dumbbell bar and evidence indicates that was Carlton Alexander and the man armed with a bottle was Stephen Nambwe.”

He said the three male guests fled the kitchen and Mr Alexander struck Ashcroft with the bar.

Ashcroft collected a knife from a drawer and followed his friends out of the front door into the driveway.

Ms Seaton came down from upstairs and stood on the threshold of the front door, creating a stand-off between the four men outside and an angry Mr Alexander and Nambwe inside.

Manchester Crown Court heard Mr Alexander and Nambwe exited via the back door and made their way round to the front garden to confront the four, who ran off.

Mr Alexander caught up with Ashcroft and hit him again with the bar but Ashcroft turned and stabbed Mr Alexander twice, causing fatal wounds just as Nambwe arrived on the scene.

David Temkin, defending Nambwe, said: “My client feels and has felt since the day of these atrocious events, great remorse for what happened and for his involvement, and how it came about and how it could so easily have been avoided. He involved himself in unlawful violence with no justification.”

Mr Temkin said Nambwe, who was born in Liberia in Africa and lived with his family in a refugee camp in neighbouring Sierra Leone for 10 years before coming to the UK, has a 15-month-old daughter and wants to get his life back on track.