The victim of a frightening knife attack in a town centre alleyway has spoken out about his ordeal.
Gary Allwood, 47, of Boxmoor, fought off robbers during the Sunday afternoon assault, but was left with stab wounds to his hand and body.
The fitter, a father of four, said: “Two people came from nowhere – they grabbed me from behind and spun me round.
“I felt pain, but it was just like somebody had punched me in the stomach.
“They were going in my pockets and I was trying to fight them off.
“I felt another punch, and put my hands up and felt a sharp pain.”
The attackers fled empty-handed from the alleyway off Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead which leads up to the Asda store on December 1.
Gary suffered minor injuries to his hand and two stab wounds of around half an inch deep close to his stomach to the front and back of his body.
He said: “I felt angry that this had happened to me. It didn’t really hit me until I got home – I just sat there thinking it could have been so much worse.
“The hospital were confident there would be no lasting damage, but said that if the wound in my hand had been deeper I could have risked losing all feeling in my fingers.”
Gary, who has now returned to work after taking some time off to recover, said: “Afterwards the only thing I was thinking about was that they could be around the corner, waiting to do this to someone else.”
A 23-year-old man from Hemel Hempstead and a 24-year-old man of no fixed abode have been arrested in connection with the incident and bailed until December 23.
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101.