A YORK man told today how two men armed with samurai swords savagely attacked him in the doorway of his home.

Steve Johnson, 37, said surgeons told him he would have been killed if he had not instinctively raised his arm in self-defence as the blows rained down on him.

In an exclusive interview with the Evening Press, he said that one of the swords shattered on impact with his body during the sustained and unprovoked attack that has left him with terrible injuries.

He said: "I was just going up the stairs to my flat when I heard a voice behind me and I turned round to see what it was.

"There were two men and I could see one of them was holding a samurai sword.

"I felt a blow to my head and I held my arm up and it felt like someone had tipped a bucket of hot water down my face.

"All I can remember is lying on the stairs, but they obviously slashed me several times.

"I've got three major gashes in my face, my ear was sliced in half and my arm has been cut to the bone.

"When the surgeons saw me they said I was lucky to be alive. If I had not put my arm up that blow would have killed me, they said, and I would not have been in hospital, I would have been in a body bag."

The attack happened on Saturday night as Mr Johnson returned to his flat in Kingsway West, Acomb, at about 10.30pm after a night out drinking with friends.

Two men in their forties from outside the York area have been arrested in connection with the attack and released on police bail pending further inquiries. Detectives are still looking for witnesses to the assault.

Mr Johnson, who was due to start work as a labourer on Monday, said he believed the attack was meant for someone else, perhaps over a drug debt.

Speaking about the attack, he said: "My neighbour came out and said: 'Stay where you are,' and then paramedics and police arrived. I was conscious in the ambulance and the man wanted to lift my sleeve back. I remember looking at the bone in my arm.

"I was just numb with shock and wanted to go to sleep, but they said to me stay awake. I am so grateful to my neighbours."

Mr Johnson, a widower, said he was going to live with friends because he suffers flashbacks when he returned home.

Updated: 10:19 Friday, July 09, 2004