A MAN who fought off a teenage terror trying to steal his wife's car spoke of his brush with death - but said he is no have-a-go hero.

Michael Garthwaite, 46, was left with a stab wound less than an inch from his jugular vein, when he took on the would-be car thief in the early hours of Monday morning.

Speaking on Tuesday from his home in Jane Street, South Moor, near Stanley, he said: "I am no 'have-a-go hero.' I didn't want him to take what was mine. Looking back, I shouldn't have gone out, but it was basic instinct."

The couple were getting ready for bed at around 12.30am on Monday, when he heard the sound of breaking glass, then a car engine starting. Looking out of his bathroom window, he saw someone in his wife's Ford Fiesta.

He told his wife, Gwyneth, to phone the police and - wearing only a pair of jeans - ran out to confront the villain.

"I shouted at him through the broken window and he hit me twice. At first, I thought he had just punched me," he said. "I didn't realise I had been stabbed until I went back inside and saw the blood."

The young thug had stabbed Mr Garthwaite twice with a screwdriver. He then pushed the car door against Mr Garthwaite, who was barefoot and slipped on the ice, falling over.

"I saw the screwdriver and the lad told me he was going to carve me up if I tried anything, so I let him go," he said.

Police dogs tracked the youth across Stanley, but lost the scent.

"He wasn't a very good car thief - he had to smash the window to get in, he didn't clean the snow off the windscreen and he couldn't work the gear stick," said Mr Garthwaite.

"But he knew how to use a screwdriver. The top wound was less than an inch from my jugular. I feel very lucky."

An ambulance took him to the University Hospital of Durham, but he did not require surgery.

He spent the rest of the night there and was back at home by Monday lunchtime.

The attacker is described as aged 15 or 16, around five feet, ten inches tall, of slim build. He wore a hooded top pulled around his face, which had a ruddy complexion and thick lips.

Anyone with information should contact DC Chris Bentham at Stanley Police Station on (01207) 232144.