RETIRED postman Merv Stanley has been hailed a hero by a judge after confronting vicious knife-man Dzung Nguyen during an incident in a Swindon park.

Merv, 65, of Moredon, was enjoying a coffee in the bandstand at Town Gardens in Old Town with his wife and 10-year-old grand-daughter when he saw the fight break out, with Nguyen wielding a machete. He grabbed the closest object to hand – a wooden folding chair – and forced the 18-inch weapon out of Nguyen’s grip.

After 20-year-old Nguyen, also known as ‘Wong’, was jailed for 12 years on Tuesday for two knife attacks over debts owed, Recorder Peter Towler awarded Merv £250 from the Sheriff’s Fund for bravery.

Modest Merv said he didn’t deserve the accolades.

“We were just sitting there chatting when we heard this fracas,” he said.

“I looked up and saw this bloke running across the park being chased by another man with a great big blade, which I thought was a machete. It was on the large side anyway.

“I had just been sitting in the bandstand and spotted them out of the corner of my eye. They both disappeared behind some bushes by the cafe.”

In the crowded park only Merv had the nerve to approach the pair, who were grappling with the huge blade after victim Rowell Bramble had tripped and suffered severe stab wounds to his arm, leg and hands.

“I needed to find something I could hit someone with because I needed to wrestle the knife off him,” said Merv.

“All there was about for any sort of defence was a wooden chair. Thankfully I didn’t need to use it.

“There were enough blokes up there to deal with the situation easily but they all seemed to vanish. I can’t say I blame them.

“When I got to the bushes there was just the two of them there, and they both had their hands on this knife, so it was a bit of a stalemate.

“There wasn’t much of a need to intervene other than to tell him to drop the knife. I asked him to drop it and at that point one of his other mates turned up on his bike and they both disappeared.”

In court, Merv was described as acting like a lion tamer with the chair, fending Nguyen off.

“All I was concerned about was the bloke dropping the knife,” he said.

“He seemed quite calm at the time to be honest, he looked a bit angry but by the time I got there they were both so exhausted they couldn’t do too much. They weren’t moving much so I was happy about that. Once I got the knife it was all over. I took it away as far as I could and when I went to go back he had disappeared.

“I let the bloke who was hurt borrow my phone to ring his girlfriend, and a couple of women came up then and started bandaging him up. The ambulance people were there within seconds.”

Merv said he is thankful now the proceedings are over because he did not relish having to give evidence in court. He has also had to be checked for Hepatitis B after he realised he had cuts on his hands during the scuffle.

“Fair play to him [Nguyen] for pleading guilty,” he said.

“That saved me and my wife a lot of grief because we did not want to have to go to court about this. I don’t really think what I did is worth the money so that is a surprise.

“I got a free cup of coffee from the lady at the cafe at the time, and that was enough for me.”