Professor Green Photo: Nudevinyl

A man who stabbed Hackney rapper Professor Green with a broken bottle was jailed for eight years yesterday.

Anthony Jones, 26, from the Woodberry Down Estate in North London, attacked the rapper – whose real name is Stephen Manderson – outside Cargo nightclub in Shoreditch in May 2009. Jones – who was studying for a masters in business studies at London Metropolitan University – had previous convictions for carrying knives.

He stabbed Professor Green in the neck, causing a gaping wound, after accusing him of “jostling” a friend. Last October a jury at Snaresbrook Court heard how Professor Green sat on the pavement outside the club, trying to stem the profuse bleeding as he called his mother and grandmother to say goodbye.

“I had been stabbed in my neck,” he said. “I was scared. I know what happens when people tend to get cut in the neck.”

Patrolling police officers administered first aid to the rapper before he was rushed to hospital. He still bears a v-shaped six-inch scar next to a distinctive ‘Lucky’ tattoo on his neck.

Handing down the sentence, Judge John Lafferty told Jones: “After what appears to have been an accidental bumping into your friend, you intervened and you sought to extract an apology from the complainant, who refused to apologise.

“That incident ended – it clearly rankled with you because what you then did was you equipped yourself with a bottle that was broken.

“You went looking for the victim. Without warning or any provocation at that stage you struck the left side of the complainant’s face and neck and inflicted a very serious injury.

“This was a premeditated attack. The initial incident, whatever the rights and wrongs of that, was over. You had no need to go looking for the complainant.”

At his trial for grievous bodily harm last October, Jones had claimed Professor Green was the aggressor and accused him of saying “Do you know who I am?” But the jury rejected Jones’s version events and found him guilty.

Professor Green was brought up by his grandmother on the Northwold Estate in Upper Clapton. One of his first tracks was called ‘Upper Clapton Dance’ and contained the lyrics “Don’t fight back, a knife can be so uncomfortable”. His ‘I Need You Tonight’ single reached number three in the charts in April and he collaborated with Lily Allen in July on ‘Just Be Good To Green‘.