A courageous couple who restrained an attacker from carrying on his horrific attack on his ex-wife have recalled the moment they saved her life as they walked to the pub for breakfast.

Katherine Jordan, 65, and her partner Roger Trask, 75, from Golden Green near Tonbridge, halted the bloodbath from ending in death after Thuan Dinh used a rope, knife, petrol-filled bottle and four butane gas cylinders in the savage assault.

The pair are now in line for one of the county’s most prestigious bravery commendations, the High Sheriff’s Award.

Roger described how he and Katherine were on their way to Wetherspoon’s along Tonbridge High Street for a bite to eat before heading to a funeral.

The pair never imagined they would be faced with a grisly “pool of blood” in a dimly lit corridor of the VCC Boutique nail bar in the town centre.

As they walked past the shop, they were flagged down by a staff member.

Katherine said: “A lady came out saying ‘help me, help me!’. We went in thinking someone was having a heart attack.”

When they entered the doorway of a room in the shop they were confronted by Dinh, crouched over his ex-wife, Lien.

Dinh, of Rowan Mews, Tonbridge, was jailed for 32 years last Thursday for attempted murder, strangling Ms Dinh with a rope before gouging at her eyes and stabbing her through the neck.

The court heard he lay in wait inside the shop for the 50-year-old mother-of-two to arrive, who was a manager at the business.

The couple’s intervention helped get emergency services to the scene quickly to save Ms Dinh’s life.

Katherine said when she questioned Dinh about what had happened, she said he “just turned around and stared”.

She said she had “no fear” as she pinned the attacker to the ground while Roger called 999. She said: “I grabbed his collar and pulled him away, I didn’t realise he had cut her throat.”

Roger described the posture of the man as “rigid”, when they first got hold of him, he said he was ready to give him a “kick” if he dared to struggle with his partner.

He added he still has visions of the injuries sustained to the victims eyes, which he likened it to when “boxers get cut”.

By this time Dinh had “curled up” without resistance whilst the couple waited for emergency services to arrive.

The couple agreed it was a “relief” when the police arrived.

Though shaken up, the couple still went for their breakfast at the pub where the police took statements from them.

It was only the next day at work when Katherine processed the events of the day before, she said: “I burst into tears and was told to go home.”

The High Sheriff of Kent’s Award Fund was set up to recognise public servants, voluntary groups and individual volunteers, whose selfless acts have benefited communities across the county.

Katherine described her feelings about the award, she said: “We’re just two ordinary people and if we can help somebody we will.”, she further added: “We’d do it again.”

At sentencing Judge Philip St John-Stevens commended the couple, saying: “You undoubtedly saved her life.”

Katherine said: “I’m glad it’s over for her, that now she can relax and get on with her life and not worry that he is going to be around.”