THE mother of a man knifed five times by Britain's most wanted man said today that he should have been jailed for the attack.

Margaret Brace, of Denison Road, Selby, said she had been "very angry" at the sentence handed out to Mark Hobson after he was convicted of the savage knifing of her son, William, two years ago.

Hobson received a probation order and community service.

Mrs Brace spoke out as police continued to search for Hobson, 34, who officers want to speak to in connection with the deaths of twin sisters Claire and Diane Sanderson and frail pensioners James and Joan Britton.

She said William, 33, who had been a friend of Hobson's for many years, suffered a punctured lung in the daylight attack and almost lost his life.

"William was in intensive care and doctors said he was lucky to be alive," she said. "There was talk of Mark getting four or five years, but the sentence he got was disgusting and made me very angry." Selby district councillor Don Bain-Mackay said: "Self-defence can be no excuse for stabbing someone five times in front of shoppers and families in Selby's High Street. Unfortunately, it is typical of today's lenient sentencing, which sends out entirely the wrong message."

Selby Council chairman Chris Pearson said: "Not only should he have gone to prison, he should also have been kept under close supervision when he came out. It is disgraceful that Hobson was let off."

Selby MP John Grogan said that many people in the town were wondering how a man who stabbed someone five times in broad daylight had only received a probation order and community service.

He said: "It is hard to imagine any circumstances where this can be seen as appropriate."

But Mr Grogan said the law had been toughened in the time since Hobson was sentenced for the knife attack.

"New legislation passed last year by the Government means that anyone now convicted of a violent crime and considered dangerous would qualify for tougher and longer sentencing."

A legal source said today that the combination order imposed on Hobson at Leeds Crown Court in June last year was totally justified.

He said the judge accepted Hobson acted in self-defence, although excessive self-defence.

Updated: 09:12 Saturday, July 24, 2004