First-aider "bandaged up stranger who had been stabbed three times by man in monkey mask"

Sue Viney, 71, was sitting in the conservatory of her Hampton Wick home with her husband Lynton at about 3.30pm on March 21 when a man began smashing on her front door screaming for help and shouting “I’ve been stabbed.”

Cedars Road: Scene of the stabbing credit: Nigel Owen

Mrs Viney, a trained first-aider, used a towel to apply pressure to his wounds which were "nasty and deep", while her husband called the police.

She said: "He was white as a sheet. He told me they were still outside chasing him, which gave us a shock."

Mrs Viney, a former welfare officer at Royal Star and Garter, said the victim, who told her his name was Tom, said a man asked him if he could use his phone while he was walking along Cedars Road.

Mrs Viney said: “Then Tom realised one was coming up behind him and the first one then pulled on a monkey mask.

"Tom ran away and fell between two cars and that is when they stabbed him. He ran across the road and straight to our front door."

The victim, a 26-year-old man, was taken by ambulance to a west London hospital in a stable condition and his sister-in-law has since visited the heroes' house with a card and offer to pay for the damage to the door.

Both Cedars Road and Vicarage Road were cordoned off while police investigated, with officers remaining in the area throughout the night.

Nigel Owen, 38, of Vicarage Road, said: "Police were wandering around and detectives as well. Shortly after, a dog handler came along and we were all told to stay in because they would be allowed off the lead.

"We were led to understand it was not any sort of attack on the community, a mugging on an older person or anything like that. It appears to be a motivated attack.

"The common awareness around us is more about burglary - that is our precaution. You do get unfortunate things from time to time but they can happen anywhere. It is never nice when it happens on your road."

A police spokesman said they were called to a stabbing in Cedars Road, near the junction with Vicarage Road, on Sunday, March 22, and a 26-year-old man was found with stab injuries to his leg.

Two teenagers aged 16 and 18 years old were arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and taken to a west London police station. The pair were bailed until the end of May while the investigation continues.