Stabbed on his own doorstep

John Clark, a cleaning supervisor at the Churchill Hospital, has spoken of the terrifying moment he was stabbed repeatedly by a teenager.

Mr Clark wants the 17-year-old, and his 15-year-old accomplice, to be named and shamed for what they did to him.

But the identities of the Oxford youths cannot be revealed because the Oxford Mail’s application to get reporting restrictions lifted was rejected by judge Mary Jane Mowat.

The pair previously pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated burglary each, and appeared for sentencing at Oxford Crown Court on Friday.

The attack was so serious that if they had been adults they would have faced up to 13 years in prison for their crime.

Instead the judge sent the older boy to a young offenders’ institue for three years.

The 15-year-old was given a six-month youth referral order and a three-month 7am-to-7pm curfew.

The incident happened at Mr Clark’s home in Valentia Road on November 18.

He had just finished dinner when there was a knock at the door.

Mr Clark said: “I answered it, as you do, and all I could feel was them pushing on the door and shouting.

“I was trying to force them back. One got in and was threatening me with the iron bar.

“My son Gary ran downstairs and we managed to get them out.

“They ran down the road and suddenly I could feel my dressing gown felt wet.”

Mr Clark had been stabbed three times – twice in the back and once in the buttocks.

He said: “I don’t know when I was stabbed, I didn’t feel it until they had run away. My son said ‘oh my god, you’ve been stabbed’.

“Then I realised I couldn’t breathe.”

Mr Clark remained in the John Radcliffe Hospital for a week and was off work for three months.

The dad-of-two said: “It has changed me. I’m more cautious when someone comes to the door now. I get my wife to look out of the window.

“But what is really frightening is what could have happened if I hadn’t been there, if there had been no-one to fight them off.”

The younger boy came to Britain from the Middle East in 2008 and was supported by his home country’s embassy in court.

He suffered a fractured skull after being fought off by Mr Clark Junior during the incident, the court heard.

Despite being arrested for the offence, the older boy went on to commit an offence of possessing an offensive weapon by holding a broken bottle to a man’s neck in the city centre in January.

He also has previous convictions for making off without payment and going equipped for theft.

David Rhodes, defending the older boy, said his client was “immature and naive” and wished to apologise for the offence.

He said the boy had witnessed his father beating his mother as a child.

David Fisher, defending the 15-year-old, said his client had never been in trouble and was supported by a loving family.

He said the boy had agreed to go along to the house to rob Mr Clark Junior following a dispute between him and the older boy.

Judge Mowat did not give any reasons for imposing anonymity on the defendants.

She said: “If they had been grown-ups the guidelines suggest, if convicted by a jury, the starting-point sentence is 10 years’ imprisonment and the range is nine to 13 years.”

But she said judge sentencing minors should “prevent future offending”, adding: “That, perhaps, is more important when sentencing a young person than the principle of just punishment.”

The 17-year-old turns 18 on August 23 and then his name can be published.

Discussing the judge’s decision to keep his attackers anonymous, Mr Clark said: “I can’t understand it.

“It doesn’t matter if you are eight, nine or 59. If you do something like that, you should be named and shamed.”

Talking about the sentence, he said: “It should have been more. If you stab someone it should be five years straight off, an automatic sentence.

“He’ll be out in 18 months.”