Wisbech attackers 'fought off by landlord holding chips'

Mr Wood's fiancee texted him to say "be careful"

A pub landlord trained in martial arts has said he fought off four attackers without dropping his fish and chips.

John Wood, 37, said he was stabbed with a screwdriver while walking back to his car from Frank's fish and chip shop in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.

Mr Wood, who runs a pub in Marshland St James in Norfolk, said he "disabled" two men by kicking them in the knees.

He said by coincidence his fiancee texted him while the robbery was happening, urging him to be careful.

'Dangerous out there'

Mr Wood, who learned the Japanese art of Aikido as a teenager, said he was approached by four young men on Thursday as he walked down an alleyway close to Lynn Road at about 21:00 BST.

"They said 'we want your wallet' and then my phone rang and they said 'we'll have your phone as well'," he said.

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If they had stabbed me one inch over it would have hit my liver and my lung and someone would have found me bleeding in an alleyway instead”

John Wood

"The irony was it was my fiancee who messaged me saying, 'be careful - it's dangerous out there'.

"I said, 'If you want it, you'll have to come and get it'."He said he managed to kick the first two men in the knees and, using one hand, fought off the third.

A fourth man then stabbed him in his chest but he said he wrestled the screwdriver off him before throwing it away.

'Really scary'

Mr Wood said he drove home and ate his fish and chips - which he managed to keep in one hand the whole time without dropping anything - before telling his partner about the incident.

"I do feel lucky - if they had stabbed me one inch over it would have hit my liver and my lung and someone would have found me bleeding in an alleyway instead," he said.

His fiancee Claire Upton said: "I texted him because it was dark and you do worry about these things, but you don't expect them to happen to someone you know.

"It wasn't bleeding profusely and he refused to go to hospital but he eventually drove himself there because he said it felt odd. It was really scary."

Cambridgeshire Police said they were contacted by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn to say Mr Wood had been stabbed and have appealed for witnesses.