A former pizza delivery man whose savage knife attack left a policeman in need of 40 stitches was jailed for ten years on Monday.

Harrow Crown Court heard that George Tombe, 23, attacked the officer during an incident outside Jake's Menswear in High Road, North Finchley, on July 15 last year.

Sudan-born Tombe, of no fixed abode, had entered the shop and walked out wearing a grey suit jacket, white trousers and black shoes he had not paid for. The shop's owner, Lou Wober, 66, attempted to stop him and was stabbed with a Stanley knife.

PC Steven McGoff noticed the commotion outside the shop and went to help. He sprayed CS gas into Tombe's face, but it had little effect.

Tombe again drew his knife and cut PC McGoff upwards, from the waist to the shoulder, before slashing the officer's wrist as he lay defenceless on the floor. It took other police officers and members of the public to restrain him.

Tombe was also charged with two counts of actual bodily harm and common assault for attacking former colleagues at Domino's Pizza in Ballards Lane, North Finchley.

Two days before he knifed PC McGoff, Tombe attended his work as usual, despite knowing that he had been fired for poor timekeeping. When told he was not needed, he saw red. He was given two years' imprisonment, to run concurrently, for these offences.

Judge Barrington Black commended PC McGoff, has only just returned to duty.