Father left beaten and bloodied by drunken youths after he objects to them vandalising his car

Last updated at 16:21 25 February 2008

A father today told how he feared he was going to die when he was attacked after confronting drunken yobs who vandalised his car.

Kurt Stevens became another victim of binge-drinking Britain when he was repeatedly beaten around the head with a bottle outside his home.

He was left lying in the street, blood pouring from gaping head-wounds, after a gang of boozed-up youths set about him in Anstey, Leicester.

Trouble flared after Mr Stevens, 40, and his partner Louise Mason, 34, heard a bang outside as they were feeding their three-week-old baby.

Mr Stevens went to investigate and found one of his wing-mirrors had been pulled off and a neighbour's car had also fallen prey to mindless vandals.

The four teenagers who had carried out the late-night attacks were skulking further up the road - and Mr Stevens decided to confront them.

The father-of-three said: "They were being very loud and obnoxious. They came for me, so I punched one of them in self-defence.

"Then I found myself being hit around the head with a bottle about eight times. I fell on to the floor and lay there, thinking I was going to die.

"It was very frightening. I was shouting at them that they were killing me. When I got back home I was covered in blood. I wasn't in a good way."

Miss Mason added: "He just burst through the back door and collapsed on the floor on his hands and knees, with blood dripping everywhere.

"I was absolutely hysterical, with the baby in my arms and Kurt bleeding. These youths just don't think of the consequences of their actions.

"You always hear about this sort of thing, but you don't expect it to happen on your doorstep. I'm just so relieved that he's still alive."

Blood-soaked Mr Stevens was helped by a nurse who lives near the couple before being taken by ambulance to the Leicester Royal Infirmary.

He needed a total of 17 stitches to three separate injuries to his head and was kept in for overnight observation before being allowed home.

Yesterday Mr Stevens, who was attacked with a vodka bottle from which the thugs had been drinking, said his attackers had no respect.

He said: "This has left me feeling very angry. I've worked hard to look after my family - and then people do something like this to me."

A police spokesman said two people had been arrested over the incident, adding: "We are investigating what was obviously a serious assault."