HE knows he is lucky to be alive. Richard McQuillan still bears the scars - both physical and mental - of the night he was left fighting for his life.

After leaving a neighbour's Bonfire Night party in November 2005, he was attacked by two men and stabbed repeatedly.

Luckily for the 47-year-old, of Aldermoor Avenue, Southampton, he survived to tell the tale and today Mr McQuillan gives his full backing to the Daily Echo's campaign to rid the streets of knives.

Mr MqQuillan relived the horrific night that almost cost him his life.

He said: "It was about 2.30am on Bonfire Night and I had just left a party at a neighbour's house in nearby Hollyoak Road to make my way home.

"As I was walking along the street, two blokes drove past me in a car. The car pulled over in front of me and the two men jumped out and started attacking me with a hammer and metal bar. One of them stabbed me four times in the stomach and I lost consciousness in the street."

Mr McQuillan's friends called an ambulance and he was rushed to Southampton General Hospital. The next few hours were to be critical and his family were warned that he might not pull through.

The knife had penetrated his liver and lung and he was kept in hospital for six days before he was allowed home.

Eighteen months after the attack Mr McQuillan is urging the police and judicial system to curb the knife culture which has rocketed in the city. His attackers were jailed at Southampton Crown Court last October for five years but Mr McQuillan does not believe the sentence was long enough. He said: "The attack has affected me a lot. I have put on weight and I am not as strong as I used to be.

"It has also affected me mentally and I have to take regular medication after the attack and I rarely go out of the house now. I am like a prisoner in my home. I don't think the judicial system is doing enough to deter people from carrying knives.

"The short sentences for knife crimes gives others the green light to go out and use a knife knowing they won't get a big sentence. I just hope the Echo's knife campaign to get knives off the streets works, but they are too readily available.

"I am very lucky to be alive - mine could very nearly have been another knife attack death."