BRUTAL killer Ashley Grant faces life imprisonment after being convicted of murder for viciously stabbing a man to death in a cowardly knife attack.

He was convicted of the horrific knifing of 23-year-old Ben Ford during a fight.

Grant twice plunged a kitchen knife into the back of Mr Ford, who at first did not even realise he had been stabbed then slumped to the ground.

Grant, 26, of Fairway, Waltham, denied murdering Mr Ford on June 19 but was convicted by a jury yesterday after a five-day trial at Hull Crown Court.

The jury of seven women and five men took little more than an hour and 10 minutes to convict Grant unanimously.

The judge, Mr Justice Penry-Davey, adjourned sentence until tomorrow and further remanded Grant in custody.

During the trial, the court heard the fatal confrontation escalated out of control from a trivial argument between two other people.

Grant and his friend, Jamie Rushby, heard about the incident and arrived on the scene to "do something about it".

Grant hit Mr Ford on the head with a claw hammer during a violent episode in Harold Street, Grimsby, but trouble later erupted again when Jamie Short and Mr Ford chased Grant and Rushby to a house on Hanson Way, Grimsby.

Grant grabbed a knife from the kitchen and, while Rushby and Mr Ford were fighting in the garden, he twice stabbed him in the back with the knife. The blows were just seconds apart.

Grant later claimed he thought Mr Ford was about to kill Rushby and believed he might be next.

The jury rejected his defence that he feared for his own safety.

During his evidence, Grant repeatedly wept in the witness box and told members of Mr Ford's family, who were sitting in the public gallery, that he was sorry.

The prosecution claimed, however, that his tears were "false" and that, in reality, he was feeling sorry only for his own plight.

See www.thisisgrimsby tomorrow for breaking news on the sentence, and Thursday's Grimsby Telegraph for full coverage.

TWO other men embroiled in the fighting that led to Ben Ford being murdered are also due to be sentenced on Wednesday.

Jamie Short, 20, of Harlech Way, Grimsby, and Jamie Rushby, 22, of Bramhall Street, Cleethorpes, admitted violent disorder.

Short also admitted possessing a knife.

Rushby, who had been due to face trial, pleaded guilty on the morning of Grant's trial.

Short, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing in December, became the leading witness for the prosecution and gave evidence against Ashley Grant.

During his evidence, Short told the court he had been Mr Ford's best friend.