A CLOTHES shop manager from Haslingden has described the moment he was stabbed repeatedly in a frenzied attack by a colleague.

Tony Barnes was speaking after a judge told his attacker to expect a prison sentence at Manchester Crown Court yesterday.

The 40-year-old was an assistant manager for tailors Berwin and Berwin at Manchester’s House of Fraser department store, formerly known as Kendals, when Aquascutum salesman Adrian Shaw, 20, launched the attack in May.

Mr Barnes said he had rowed with Shaw over serving a customer before the salesman carried out the assault, which left him with two puncture wounds in his neck, one in the chest, one in the head and one to his right shoulder.

Following the attack he was treated for stab wounds, the deepest being 3cm into his neck, which just missed his spinal cord.

And he is still receiving trauma counselling as he tries to rebuild his confidence.

He said: “It was completely shocking, what happened to me.

“You just do not expect someone with whom you work to become so violent and attack you in that way.

“I was very apprehensive about returning to work but I’m just trying to get on with my life.

“It is difficult not to let something like this affect you but I do not want this person and this incident to ruin my life.”

Shaw, 20, of Middleton, Manchester, pleaded guilty to wounding and possession of an offensive weapon.

Mr Barnes, now an assistant manager for Saville Row tailors, is pursuing a civil case for damages against Aquascutum.

Keith Cundall, a lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “This was an horrendous ordeal for Tony to endure at his own place of work.

“To be subjected to such a vicious attack by a colleague, of whom he would have had an expected level of trust, was deeply traumatic.

“He had to take time off work and is still undergoing counselling to come to terms with what has happened to him.

"Irwin Mitchell is determined to help Tony get the right support and rehabilitation he needs so he can continue his career in the fashion industry.”