Sword thug is snared by spit

STABBED . . . Mohammed Sarwar shows the wounds made by the sword. The entry marks are circled

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A HOODED thug who stabbed a Failsworth shopkeeper in broad daylight was caught after he spat on the ground.

Mohammed Sarwar, who owns family business S&A Newsagents, in Oldham Road, was stabbed repeatedly with a small sword in the chest and arm by two masked offenders in the incident in February, last year.

CCTV footage showed Anton Johnson (19), from Wrigley Head Crescent, Failsworth, lifting his balaclava to spit on the ground after the attack.

It was DNA from his saliva taken at the scene which later proved to be a match.

Johnson was sentenced to six years at a young offenders institute when he appeared at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court. He had pleaded guilty to robbery and possession of an offensive weapon at a previous hearing.

The court heard how Johnson and an accomplice pounced on Mr Sarwar in Ridgefield Street, near to his business, just after 9am.

Johnson tried to stab the 57-year-old grandfather in the stomach with the 12-inch blade but Mr Sarwar blocked it with a bag of coins he was taking to the post office.

He was then stabbed in the chest and twice his left arm before both men fled with the cash.

The court was told that Johnson had numerous convictions for arson, assault and witness intimidation.

At the time, Mr Sarwar’s son Mohammed Akhtar said that had the stab wounds been an inch either way, his father could have been killed.

Speaking yesterday, the 31-year-old said the attack had caused untold stress to his entire family and the business was now up for sale.

He said: “I don’t think six years is enough, I’d hoped it would have been more.

“It doesn’t fit the crime.We’re still living through it every day and my father will have to live with it for the rest of his life.

“He’s not the same person. He gets nervous when people run past him and has even had panic attacks.”