A TRIO who left a man’s bowels spilling from his stomach after a vicious three-on-one knife attack have all been convicted of attempted murder.

Donald Adu, Calvin Armstrong and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons had denied 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.

The catalyst for the attack has never been confirmed but is believed to have been a robbery of one of the group’s associates – a teenager Class A drug dealer.

Adu, of Howard Road ,London, Armstrong, of no fixed address, and the boy, who is from Colchester, were all convicted by a jury following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

They will be sentenced by Judge Martyn Levett at the same court next month.