TWO friends who stabbed a university student are facing life in prison after being found guilty of murder.

Tyrone Woolley, 23, and his friend Jack Dempsey, 22, chased and cornered Paul Carr, 25, a Thames Valley University student, after a night out clubbing and binge drinking.

An Old Bailey jury found the pair guilty yesterday of Mr Carr's murder.

Woolley's girlfriend Stacy Faunch, a clerical worker who admitted drinking up to 12 double vodkas before the fight, sobbed as she was cleared of both murder and affray.

The four week trial heard how Woolley and Dempsey agreed to 'tool up' before they went out clubbing in Ealing for an 18th birthday party.

Mr Carr had been out drinking with friends at Club Boulevard, High Street, Ealing until 2am on January 21 last year. On his way home he tried to chat up Stacy Faunch, her sister Ashley and a friend as they walked through Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre.

The court heard that Woolley then pulled out a knife and said: "F*** off, otherwise you will get your face wet." But Mr Carr refused to back off and then punched Ashley in the face after she slapped him.

Prosecutor Nicholas Hilliard said: "Obviously there is no excuse for him hitting her in the face. But by the same token the punishment which was then meted out to Mr Carr was out of all proportion to what he had done.

"That punch cannot begin to justify chasing him, cornering him, catching him, outnumbering him and stabbing him to death."

Mr Carr fled to safety in the LA Confidential nightclub, High Street, Ealing but was ejected by a bouncer. He was punched and kicked by Dempsey and Woolley.

Woolley then stabbed Mr Carr twice in the chest before shouting: "It's done. Let's go."

He collapsed with blood spurting from his wounds in front of a crowd of revellers on their way home.

Mr Carr was taken to hospital but died from six inch wounds to his heart and spleen at 3.30am.

Woolley fled to New York later that night and made his way to relatives in Toronto, Canada but he was arrested at gunpoint on April 3 last year.

Dempsey was convicted of murder for punching Mr Carr while shouting: "Give it to him."

Miss Faunch later told police she did not know her boyfriend Woolley had a knife and insisted she was trying to stop him.

Investigating Officer DI Mick Broster of the Met's Specialist Crime Directorate West said: "This was a particularly protracted investigation requiring lengthy inquiries in Canada.

"I am pleased with the decision of the jury as it sends out a strong message that we will pursue and put before the courts those responsible for murder".

Judge Giles Forrester adjourned sentencing until April 26 and told the pair: "The sentence on that day will be one of life imprisonment."