A TRIO left a man with his bowels spilling from his stomach after luring him to an alleyway and launching a vicious knife attack, a court heard.

Donald Adu, Calvin Armstrong and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons are accused of attempting to murder Leon Sobers in Mandeville Road, Marks Tey, on Halloween last year.

Mr Sobers had received a call earlier in the day from a man referring to himself as Rico saying he was trying to establish new drug lines and had free testers available.

They arranged to meet and Mr Sobers eventually saw three males in an alleyway thought to be the three defendants and one wearing a mask – the teenage boy.

Armstrong, 22, initially asked whether Mr Sobers had any names for him, and Adu, 25, said he recognised him from a previous occasion.

Mr Sobers believed he was being set up and tried to get away but felt a sharp pain in his shoulder which was later found to be a stab wound.

He ran back to Mandeville Road while they chased him with one shouting ‘Get him and don’t let him go’.

Realising he could not get away, Mr Sobers began banging on doors to try to get help but was eventually attacked again.

The group ran away and Mr Sobers was initially treated for several stab wounds by an ex-paramedic who happened to live nearby - including a protruding bowel.

He was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries but survived.

Adu, of Howard Road ,London, Armstrong, of no fixed address, and the boy, who is from Colchester, deny attempted murder and an alternative charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Opening the case against them at Ipswich Crown Court, Christopher Paxton QC said: “Mr Sobers was subject to a planned and vicious knife attack off an alleyway in a residential estate.

“His injuries were significant and potentially life-threatening had it not been for the medical intervention that followed.

“It is our case that the number of stab wounds and their location show the defendants had just one intention and that was to kill him.”

Mr Paxton said the catalyst for the attack was believed to have been a robbery on a teenage dealer known to be an associate of the 16-year-old.

The trial – which is expected to last four weeks – continues.