The dad of stabbed schoolboy Jason D’Arcy has told how he staunched the knife wounds with his bare hands as his son’s life ebbed away in front of him.

“Jason was on the brink of death,” said Lee D’Arcy, a trained first-aider, his shoulders shaking with emotion as he struggled to talk of the horror.

“He cried out: ‘Help me Dad, I’ve been stabbed’ – and then his eyes rolled back in his head.

“I thought I’d lost him.”

Badly-wounded Jason, nine, had miraculously staggered back to his home in Park Road, Windhill, Shipley, after being stabbed by a knifeman at the Carnegie skate park at Windhill recreation ground on Monday afternoon.

A trail of blood led to his back door on which he left a bloodied handprint as he pushed it open to get help.

Precision engineer Mr D’Arcy, 40, was at home from work while Jason was at his favourite place – the skate park.

Pausing from remembering the terrible scenes that had confronted him, Mr D’Arcy smiled briefly as he recalled normal life.

“He absolutely loves taking his scooter down there,” he said, speaking exclusively to the T&A.

“He’s constantly there.

“As soon as he gets back from school he changes out of uniform and rushes off with his scooter to the ramps.

“Then he dashs back, throws down his tea and is off back there again,” said Mr D’Arcy, briefly back at home yesterday with partner Joanne Illingworth, 37.

“He’s very sporty and loves playing out, sometimes it’s football, but usually it’s the scooter and there’s never been any trouble down at the park until this.

“In fact the park was one of the main reasons we chose to move here.

“It’s so safe and close with no roads to cross or anything like that. You can see the park from our window,” said Mr D’Arcy, leaning heavily against his kitchen table beside a fridge covered with children’s drawings.

He said Jason had never experienced any trouble playing out during the two years the family have lived there.

“I now know a lot of people round here and they say just the same.

“At about 7.30pm Jason always comes home because that’s when the bigger boys arrive and take the place over, but there’s never been any danger down there – until now.”

Regaining control, he determinedly continued to talk about the nightmare events of Monday afternoon.

“I was doing the ironing and had gone upstairs when he must have let himself in through the back door after running back home.

“He was sitting on the bottom step of the stairs and I grabbed the wound on his right arm to staunch the bloodflow.

“I held it tight as I checked him over for other wounds.

“He had been stabbed twice.

“Luckily the first strike at his chest had been deflected by his sternum, but the second blow when Jason must have been trying to protect himself sent the knife blade clean through the middle of his right forearm.

“I could tell his blood pressure was very, very low.”

Fighting his emotions at the terrifying memory, he continued: “He’d lost ever such a lot of blood and I really feared I was losing him.

“If I didn’t know first aid, I think I would have done.”

Through his work as an engineer, Mr D’Arcy has been a fully trained first aider for 22 years and knew exactly what to do.

“I continued with compression on the wound and lifted his legs up above his body until the paramedics arrived.

“I don’t know how long it took them, but they seemed to be here instantly.”

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance landed minutes later at the end of Church Street and Jason was flown to Leeds General Infirmary for emergency treatment.

Mr D’Arcy said: “All the medical staff have been brilliant and the police too.

“Their care and concern has been awesome – truly excellent.

“And without the speed of the Air Ambulance I don’t know what might have happened – Jason was at the hospital within minutes.”

Since the attack Jason has undergone surgery and last night remained in a stable conditon as doctors assess the amount of damage to his arm.

“He has suffered some temporary loss of feeling in his right arm, but they are carrying out further tests,” said his dad.

Jason has talked about the attack and, amazingly, much of his survival is due to his own courage and maturity, Mr D’Arcy said.

“He absolutely loves all the action documentaries about the emergency services and his favourite is Helicopter Rescue.

“He told me: ‘I just kept calm when it happened – you know, like they tell you to do on the telly’.”

But Jason’s all-time favourite television programme is BBC’s Top Gear.

Mr D’Arcy said: “Jason even asked me ‘I wonder if it was the same Air Ambulance helicopter which rescued Richard Hammond from Top Gear?’.

“His attitude through all this has just been awesome. He’s just brilliant.

“He is still smiling and to be honest, his strength is what’s keeping us all going, especially me. My only priority is just making sure that Jason’s okay and that his recovery continues.

“Family, friends and neighbours have all been terrific in helping us through this.”

And Mr D’Arcy said: “I have to say one thing which is that if people have the chance to learn first aid – they should do it. You don’t know when you might need it, but when you need it – you do.”

He said all members of his family were grateful for all the support they had received.

“At the moment I’m in a state of complete shock and can’t really believe what happened yet.

“I’ve not reached the anger stage yet.”