THE man who attacked Coronation Street star John Savident has apologised for stabbing and nearly killing the actor.

Michael Smith, who was jailed for seven years in September for the crime and sentenced to life in January for other attacks, said he was sorry and that he was "scared" he might have killed the soap star.

Savident, who plays the show's butcher Fred Elliott, was attacked at his home in Manchester in December 2000.

He was stabbed in the neck and lost nearly two pints of blood before paramedics reached him.

Smith, from Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, stole valuables from Savident's house after attack the actor.

Smith, 30, said from his prison cell: "It scares me to think that John Savident could have died. I'm glad that it wasn't worse.

"I'm really sorry for what happened, for everything that has happened. At the end of the day, I have got to address my problems, my alcohol and my emotions. I could not control myself," he said.

Smith had been arrested for the attack but fled from the trial.

He committed two other attacks, on a woman in Birmingham and two teenagers in Manchester, while on the run.

At his trial, where he received seven years for the attack of Savident and life for the other attacks, the judge told him he needed to be punished.

The father-of-one had 60 previous convictions at the time of his attack on Savident.

Smith said he aimed to improve his life. "I just want to prove to people I am not a mad man. I can do something good with my life," he said.

Savident has been playing butcher Fred Elliott in the long-running ITV1 soap since 1994.

Prior to becoming an actor, he had been a policeman in Manchester.