THE champagne is flowing for Hampshire's Maurice Little - the man who nearly died at the hands of a knife attacker.

Not only was he celebrating his 65th birthday but Maurice surprised his partner Ruth Kalinowicz, the woman who helped him through the trauma, by getting down on one knee and proposing to her.

Ruth, a personnel director - who emphatically said Yes - met Maurice by chance in the aftermath of the bungled robbery at an off-licence he owned, and became a bedrock of support for him.

The Daily Echo revealed how they found love, following the incident which left Maurice fighting for his life, after he was stabbed with a 12-inch carving knife. For the couple, it closes a seven-year chapter that has seen Maurice transformed from a broken man into someone with a bright future.

Maurice said it seemed appropriate to propose on his birthday yesterday at the couple's home in Sherwood Road, Chandler's Ford.

"I captured it all on camera and got down on one knee to ask Ruth to marry me. It feels totally marvellous that she said Yes," he said.

Ruth, 49, shares her fiance's feeling of joy. "I am so happy about this - it is great that we found each other. When we first met, I was living on my own, having separated from my husband, so it helped me too," she said. Maurice - who got to know Ruth after staying with his sister Pat and brother-in-law John in Buckinghamshire - added: "I can't believe how lucky I have been. "It is almost exactly seven years since the incident when I was stabbed inside the shop I owned in Winchester Road - and the following year was the worst of my life."

The Daily Echo also previously reported how Maurice turned his life around by meeting his young attacker and offering him a job back in 1997. It led to him making a string of national television appearances, to talk about the Southampton incident.

The couple are due to get married in June next year and plan to honeymoon in Corfu.

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