A student was confronted by a mugger on a well-used towpath near Oxford city centre.

The 21-year-old had walked through Osney Lock when he was threatened with a kitchen knife by a scruffily dressed man who was also brandishing an aerosol can.

He confronted student Richard Broome, of Dark Lane, Witney, and demanded his coat.

Richard, who was returning to Newsquest Oxford's headquarters on the industrial estate on Osney Mead, where he works in the despatch department, shoved the man away and ran back towards Osney Island.

Richard, who is on a business studies course at Oxford College of Further Education, recalled the moment he was confronted. He said: "I had gone into town for a couple of hours' break and was walking back through Osney Island and the lock.

"I had just walked across the weir bridge when the man came up to me. He was holding a large knife and he had an aerosol can that had an oily smell.

"He said: 'Give me your coat!'. I pushed him away and turned and ran away. I wasn't going to take any chances, not with a knife.

A man has been arrested.