Hotel worker Kean Taylor said he was lucky to survive after being stabbed in the chest by a man in his shared house in north Oxford.

Mr Taylor, 25, who lives with his wife Kimberley, 23, in the house in Woodstock Road, said yesterday that he was stabbed after asking the man to stop arguing with his girlfriend.

Medical staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital told Mr Taylor that he could have suffered life-threatening injuries if the blade of the knife had not been deflected by his ribcage.

Mr Taylor, originally from South Africa, said the man knocked on his door, and "went for him" when he opened it, before running off shortly after 4am on Saturday.

Paramedics took Mr Taylor to the John Radcliffe Hospital where he was treated for 13 hours, before being released, once it was established there were no significant internal injuries.

Mr Taylor said: "I feel lucky because the guy could have killed me. He came at me with this sharp steak knife and stabbed me in the lower chest, and then ran off.

"They said at the hospital that the blade was deflected when it hit one of my ribs. If the knife had gone right into me it could have been tragic.

"All I did was ask him to keep the noise down and he just went for it. Although I'd seen him a few times before, I didn't really know him because people live in separate rooms, but you don't expect this to happen in a shared house."

Mr Taylor and his wife left Oxford yesterday to fly to South Africa for a holiday.

He added: "We will be be back in January. After what happened, I'm looking forward to a break."

Kimberley said: "Kean has been extremely lucky. It could have been a lot worse."

Nick Mussell, Mr Kean's father-in-law, who used to live in Oxfordshire before moving to Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, Wales, said: "I think this is appalling. Kean is lucky to be alive."

A man has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident and was due to appear before Oxford magistrates today.