A MAN has admitted taking part in a vicious attack which saw a community police officer stabbed 11 times.

Today (Tuesday) Michael Lloyd, 22, of St John’s Crescent, Canvey, pleaded guilty to violent disorder as the trial of co-defendant Robert Smith, 23, got underway at Basildon Crown Court.

Lloyd was remanded in custody and warned to expect a custodial sentence.

Smith, 23, of Templar Avenue, Grays, denies attacking PCSO Ian Forbes on June 5, 2008.

Mr Forbes, an officer with the Met Police, was with two friends making the five-minute walk from Grays railway station to a colleague’s house when they passed a gang of four men, the court heard.

Trouble flared after a can of beer was thrown at Mr Forbes’s head.

He told the court: "That’s when another male came from the group and started asking me for a one on one fight."

Mr Forbes tried to run away, but the group caught him and launched the attack.

Mr Forbes recalled: "I can only describe it as chaos. I couldn’t tell you who did what but I remember being hit in my face, in my ribs.

"I was being hit from every direction.

"The next thing I am on the floor on my back, another male is sitting on me across the waist.

"The only thing I could think about doing was punching him in the testicles to get him off me.

"As soon as it finished they started running off.

"That’s when my friend came up and my instinct was to say I’m fine, then in an instant all that adrenalin was gone."

It was only then that the PCSO, who is in his 20s, realised he had been stabbed.

He told the court: "I lifted my shirt up and I could see the inside of my own chest. There was a three-inch gash."

Smith denies two counts of assault by beating and one count of violent disorder.

The trial continues.