IN January, Stephen Furze was stabbed in the stomach and left for dead in an Oxford street as he walked home after visiting family.

It took him months to recover physically from the attack, in which he suffered a 3.5in knife wound and a punctured liver.

His attacker Lewis Buck was jailed for six years on Friday, after admitting wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

But Mr Furze condemned the sentence and told the Oxford Mail it would take far longer than that for his psychological scars to heal.

He said: “I don’t think it will ever go away.

“You put on a brave face, but no matter how much you try to put it to the back of your mind something will remind you – the lighting or someone saying something.”

The 27-year-old, who works in a supermarket in the city, added: “I had nightmares and I was waking up in hot sweats.

“I am more paranoid now.

“You are always looking over your shoulder thinking, ‘Am I going to be okay today?’ “A month or so after the attack, I thought I saw him on the bus, but it was just the mind playing tricks. Every so often that still happens.”

Mr Furze had been walking home through Summertown with his partner when they were followed by Buck.

Without provocation, Buck, 22, formerly of Banbury Road, hurled homophobic abuse at the gay couple before challenging them to a fight.

When Mr Furze stood up to him, Buck threatened to “shank him” – slang for stabbing – and later confronted the pair with a knife.

Mr Furze was stabbed in the stomach as he tried to disarm his attacker. He was told by medical staff that he was lucky to survive.

“We moved out of that area quite quickly because of the whole incident,” said Mr Furze, who still lives in Oxford.

But he said he did not believe he was the victim of a homophobic attack, adding: “It’s something that gave him a reason.

“Because of the way he was it could have been anything. He was just looking for an excuse.”

Mr Furze condemned Buck’s sentence as too lenient.

He said: “Anyone who carries a knife, let alone uses it with the intention of killing someone, deserves to be locked up for far longer. They are a danger to society.

“My attacker is a nasty, nasty piece of work.”

Last night James Lawrence, spokesman for gay and lesbian awareness charity Stonewall, said it was important that victims of homophobic crimes came forward.

He added: “Hate crime and the fear of hate crime overshadow the lives of too many lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Britain.

“Research for Stonewall shows that one in five lesbian and gay people experienced a homophobic hate crime or incident in the last three years, but three in four didn’t report it.”