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| Survival of the Fattest |
A computer analyst stabbed 38 times and left for dead survived because he was overweight.
Danny Ross, 44, required 70 stitches after he was strangled with a belt then knifed dozens of times in his home.
David Johnson, 33, was yesterday convicted of attempted murder at Exeter Crown Court. He will be sentenced later today.
Mr Ross had been watching television at his flat in Exeter city centre last August when Johnson knocked on the door and falsely accused him of stealing money from a family member.
Johnson then launched a frenzied attack by first using his belt to throttle his victim until he passed out.
He then stabbed Mr Ross 38 times with a kitchen knife.
Mr Ross told the jury: 'He started to get violent. He got out a belt and put it round my throat. In seconds I was unconscious.'
He next remembers trying to stand up, stumbling and screaming in pain, and leaving bloody hand prints on the walls in his flat.
He woke up in hospital several hours later and was told about the extent of his injuries.
Mr Ross said: 'After I saw the photographs the police took I couldn't believe it. If I had been thinner I would have been dead.
'The medical staff tried to be tactful in the way they described it but I am heavier than I would like to be and they said it was that extra weight that saved my life.'
Johnson, from Exwick, Exeter, later told a friend after the attack: 'I killed him, get over it.'
Mr Ross could have bled to death but a third man who had been in the flat at the start of the row before the stabbing began, called an ambulance when he heard Johnson's murderous boasts.
During his trial, Johnson claimed that Mr Ross had wounded himself as part of a compensation claim fiddle.
Despite his injuries, Mr Ross said he hoped his attacker, who he knew but did not get on with, 'gets the treatment he needs'.
The victim said: 'You must be so full of hate to stab someone 38 times. He thought he had killed me and definitely meant to.'
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