A 23-year-old woman has been found guilty of attempting to murder a homeless man after slashing him with a knife and leaving him for dead in an alleyway.

But a man accused of being involved in the attack was cleared of all charges, at Isleworth Crown Court last Thursday.

Jodie Dobby, of Clayponds Avenue, Brentford, repeatedly stabbed Owen Allen in the head, face and neck after they drank together on September 18 last year.

Sonny Dhillon, 20, of Pownall Gardens, Hounslow, who admitted punching the 47-year-old during the assault, was cleared of all charges, including one of attempted murder.

A third suspect is yet to be charged, the court heard.

Mr Dhillon had denied intending to harm recovering alcoholic Mr Allen, who needed a lifesaving operation following the “frenzied” attack in Mill Platt Avenue, Isleworth.

Defence counsel Nerida Harford-Bell asked Mr Dhillon during the trial: “You are charged with attempted murder. Did you intend to kill that man?”

Mr Dhillon replied: “No I didn’t.”

Ms Harford-Bell said: “Did you punch him knowing there would be a ferocious assault?”

Mr Dhillon again replied: “No". He added: “I was sickened by what happened.”

Dobby, who was a voluntary patient at the Lakeside mental health unit, had pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent, but denied attempted murder.

The emergency services found Mr Allen's lifeless body in an alleyway at about 9pm as firefighters put out a small blaze nearby.

The court heard how his attackers were believed to have tried to burn the evidence.

The homeless man met a group, including Dobby and Mr Dhillon, in Silver Hall Park earlier in the day, the court heard.

He shared a drink with them before Mr Dhillon allegedly pushed him into a river "for a laugh".

He later met them again and asked for help to get dry in a nearby flat.

But after he left them a second time, Mr Allen said a youth beckoned him in Mill Platt Avenue before pushing him against a wall.

He said: “As I was trying to get up, that’s when it all went totally mad.

"I could see glimpses of maybe knives.

“I was sickened. I thought that was it. I was covered in blood, it was in my eyes.”

He suffered multiple stab wounds to his head, face and neck, as well as a fracture to the right side of his face and had numerous blood transfusions.

Dobby later told a healthcare assistant at the Lakeside unit she thought she had killed a man who had touched her inappropriately, the jury was told.

She handed the mental health worker a knife and showed him blood on her trainers.

Dobby will be sentenced later this year.