A MAN who fought off a teenager trying to steal his wife's car spoke of his brush with death yesterday.

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.

Speaking yesterday from his home in Jane Street, South Moor, near Stanley, County Durham, 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 about 12.30am on Monday, when Mr Garthwaite heard breaking glass and a car engine starting. Looking out of his bathroom window, he saw someone in his 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 thug had stabbed Mr Garthwaite twice with a screwdriver. He then pushed the car door against Mr Garthwaite, who fell over on the ice.

"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 gearstick," 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."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Stanley police on (01207) 232144