WATFORD STAR STABBED DURING BURGLARY
WATFORD midfielder Paolo Vernazza is recovering after an assault which left him with a stab wound to his leg, while his former Arsenal youth team colleague Andrew Douglas remains in Hackney General Hospital in a critical condition after sustaining serious chest injuries.
The pair intervened in a burglary at 21-year-old Vernazza's home in Islington during the early hours of Tuesday morning, causing the assailant to lash out at the pair in a frenzied knife attack.
Douglas is currently playing for non-league outfit Grays Athletic and, although his condition is said to be serious it is not thought to be life-threatening.
Also 21, he is better known for his participation in the recent Channel 4 adventure series Shipwrecked.
A police spokesman told planetfootball.com: "Hackney burglary squad are currently investigating a burglary and grievous bodily harm incident at an address in Portland Rise, N4, which took place on Tuesday morning.
"At 4am the tenant of the property returned home with a friend. They found that the house had been burgled and confronted the intruder in the entrance to the house.
"The intruder then stabbed them both - the tenant in the leg and his friend in the chest - before leaving with some property.
"The victims were taken to an East London hospital. The man who was stabbed in the chest remains in a critical but stable condition, while the other victim was later discharged."
