HE SURVIVED an unprovoked stab in the back from an out of control youth but the injuries have wrecked Daniel Warren's dreams of a military career.

After jurors at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday convicted his 16-year-old attacker of wounding with intent, Mr Warren, 19, a former Bournemouth School for Boys pupil, said: "We never expected it would turn out any other way."

The attack meant surgeons had to remove Daniel's spleen and when army medics examined him recently they turned down his application to join the military because of the injury.

At 10.30pm on April 13 this year, Mr Warren, a University of Bath student, was out in the city centre with his girlfriend and two other pals when the boy approached.

The boy asked for cigarettes and turned nasty when refused prosecutors told the court, refuting the boy's claim that he acted in self-defence.

Describing his attacker, Daniel said: "He was very aggressive and physically confrontational. Neither of us had said anything to upset him other than to say we didn't have any cigarettes.

"Even after he had stabbed me I thought he had just punched me in the back as I walked away from him.

"After he had started to run off I looked around and saw that my shirt was drenched with blood and I realised that something serious had happened.

"Even then I didn't realise I had been stabbed. It wasn't until I saw the CCTV pictures that I realised he had buried this three-and-a-half inch bladed knife up to its hilt in my back.

"While I tried to work out what had happened the door staff from the pub who we were near had apprehended this kid and they were chasing another who had run off with the knife.

"Some people sat me down until the ambulance arrived and they put pressure on the wounds.

"I remember arriving in casualty and then I must have lost consciousness because I didn't really wake up again for four days."

By the time Physics and Computing student Daniel was fully awake his mother Kay, father, Alan, and his two sisters, one aged 16, the other aged nine, were at his bedside.

"I have to take penicillin every day now for the next two years as they had to remove my spleen and I might need to be on it for the rest of my life.

"The whole thing has made me more anxious about going out in busy places and more conscious about the people around me."

Sentencing of the youth, who denied the offence, was adjourned until early September when reports on him will have been prepared.