A DRUNKEN who man walked into an Oxford newsagent and repeatedly stabbed himself in the leg has escaped being jailed “by the skin of his teeth”.

Ziyad Mahmood staggered into Supa Sava in Rose Hill, brandishing a kitchen knife and yelled “I’m going to kill you” before plunging the five-inch blade into his thigh.

The 22-year-old was given a suspended sentence at Oxford Crown Court on Monday where Recorder Antonio Bueno called it a “bizarre and unusual” case. He added: “I must express my horror that innocent persons should have been subjected to the kind of behaviour in which you indulged on that occasion.

“Your behaviour, on any showing, was quite extraordinary.

“Having behaved in this way you then stabbed yourself in the leg several times. Quite why you did that is a mystery to me.”

Mahmood, of Courtland Road, Rose Hill, has “little recollection of his behaviour” and offered no motive for his actions, his lawyer Nick Cotter told the court.

The incident took place at about 10pm on June 23 and the defendant was arrested at the John Radcliffe Hospital after seeking help for his leg wounds.

He admitted affray and having a bladed article.

Recorder Bueno gave Mahmood a 12-month jail term, suspended for 18 months, with 200 hours’ unpaid work.

He said he had “some misgivings” about suspending the sentence and told the defendant: “You must regard yourself as extremely fortunate.

“I have to think you were suffering some kind of aberration, that you lost your mind in some way that was wholly uncharacteristic.

“You have escaped prison by the skin of your teeth.”

Outlining the case, prosecutor Jane Davis said Mahmood was led out of the store and a female shop assistant “indicated she was not afraid”.

Mr Cotter, defending, said his client, who came to England from Iran six years ago and now holds a British passport, was friends with the shopkeeper.

He said: “He would wish formally, through me, to apologise for his actions and totally unwarranted behaviour.”

Mr Cotter said Mahmood only “drinks every six months” and had consumed a “large amount of vodka” that night.

He added: “There’s no information as to why on earth he committed this offence.”

Last month 34-year-old Martyn Shorter was jailed for three years and four months after he burst into the Co-op store in Rose Hill with a machete and threatened staff.