Terror of Samurai sword attack

The 18-year-old's left hand was split in half during the brutal assault at the hands of Angelo 'Valentine' Lazarus and Rakakaran 'Raj' Thurairajah, who were shop assistants at Londis in Ninfield Road.

Last week Lazarus, 21, was jailed for 21 months after being found guilty of wounding . His accomplice, 28, admitted the charge and will be sentenced on June 8.

But while his attackers will eventually walk free, Leon must bare the scars of last October's terrifying incident for the rest of his life.

He still has no movement or feeling in any of his fingers and wears a glove to hide the giant scar and the fact his left hand hangs limp and twisted. He has to rely on mum Paula to cut up his meals, button his shirts and other simple procedures most of us take for granted.

He can no longer enjoy his favourite hobby of fishing and, worst of all, he has lost his livelihood.

Leon was a yardworker for Coleman's construction but has been unable to work since the attack due to his injuries. His employers have been understanding but Leon realises he can never return to that sort of work.

He said: "My work options are pretty limited with my hand because I can't do anything with it. Valentine might be out in a few months and he's free to go back to work but what choice have I got?"

The ugly incident occurred in the early hours of October 11 after Leon got out of a cab in Ninfield Road following a night out at the Continental. He said: "All sudden a group of people we knew came running towards us saying they were being chased.

"I ran off up Ninfield Road but the others seemed to go down towards Glovers Lane.

"For some reason I stopped and turned round and saw Raj walking towards me. He then took out a bat and started laying in to me.

"Then Valentine (Lazarus) turned up, whipped out a sword and said 'you've been causing too much trouble outside my shop, white boy'."

The next Leon remembers is raising his left hand to shield himself as he was slashed by the weapon.

The two attackers, both Sri Lankan, had given chase to a group of youths after a pile of newspapers outside the Londis shop was set on fire. Leon is adamant he had nothing to do with the fire and simply found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lazarus was cleared of wounding with intent after the jury failed to find beyond reasonable doubt that he was the one wielding the sword.

What is beyond doubt is that Leon was left in a pool of blood with his fingers hanging off and another gash to his thigh. He crawled to a house in North Road and was looked after by the occupant who called an ambulance.

After that he spent 11 hours in surgery at St Thomas' hospital in London while his hand was fused back together.

The attack caused tension in Sidley for weeks as members of the close-knit community threatened revenge for Leon's attack. The two attackers fled to east London.

Leon has since had several operations and is awaiting another in four months' time. He has to attend twice-weekly occupational therapy sessions at the Conquest and sometimes has trouble sleeping. He added: "I was nervous going out for a few weeks after the attack but my mum made me go out and I'm OK now.

"Hopefully after the next operation I'll have some mobility and be able to sense the difference between hot and cold to prevent getting accidentally burnt. They're having to take nerves taken from the bottom of my foot.

"I'm taking one day at a time and hopefully things will start to get better for me. I can't really put he attack behind me because of the injury and scars but I can try and get on with it."

Leon and his mum want to thank DI Trevor Bowles and DC John Stainsby for their support during the ordeal.