A man who brutally stabbed a bailiff in the stomach with a large knife after he called at his home with a repossession order has been jailed for four years.

John Savage was asleep when bailiff Peter Cartwright tapped him on the leg after getting no response to a knock on his front door and he lashed out with the knife.

Mr Cartwright sustained a serious wound to his stomach area, he had to have 11 units of blood as he underwent four hours of surgery.

The victim spent a week in hospital and the court was told he was “lucky to be alive”.

Judge Amjad Nawaz told 47-year-old Savage, from Cradley Heath, it was down to good fortune that he had not been facing a much more serious charge as he told him his actions had been “extremely reckless”.

He said Mr Cartwright had simply been doing his job and because Savage had not responded to letters sent to him by the County Court he had called at his Victoria Gardens home.

“You knew you were in financial difficulties and it is a fact of life that bailiffs sometimes turn up,” said the Judge.

“When he entered with a colleague you were under the bed covers.

“You were in the habit of going to bed with a weapon for over a decade because you thought it was the best way to protect yourself.

"But you created a danger to others and, because you were also wearing earplugs, you had cut yourself off from the world.”

Savage admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and it was his wish to apologise to his victim publicly, said Sharonjit Bahia defending.

She told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Savage slept with a knife under his pillow after being burgled some years before adding, “He believed it was the only way he would be safe in his own home.”

Miss Bahia maintained he had not know the bailiffs were coming to the property although Savage knew he was in arreas with his rent. “He over-reacted to the situation he was presented with when he found another man in his home.”

“The burglary put him in such fear of something happening in his home that he felt he needed to arm himself for protection.”