Only one of four CCTV cameras which may have provided clues in the hunt for a knifeman who stabbed a shopper in Roehampton was working at the time of the attack.

The Guardian can reveal the council-maintained cameras have not been working for a year and the control room where footage from the cameras overlooking Danebury Avenue in Roehampton is relayed, is only manned a few hours a week.

Simon Cullen, 35, was stabbed in the neck and suffered a punctured artery on November 4 outside Danebury Food and Wine, in Danebury Avenue.

Mr Cullen's girlfriend, who declined to be named, was praised by police for her quick thinking in rushing him to hospital a decision believed to have saved his life.

But she has hit out at the council for failing to maintain the cameras.

"It's absolutely disgusting," she said, "Everyone knows the cameras aren't working. If they were we would have had a good image of this man and a better chance of catching him.

The council should have repaired them when they first knew they were broken."

DC George Dunne from Wandsworth CID described the lack of working CCTV as disappointing'.

A council spokesman said the company which manufactured the cameras had gone into liquidation, making it impossible to get new parts for the obsolete' technology. The spokesman added: "We are hoping to get funding for new cameras in the near future."

Mr Cullen was stabbed after he and his girlfriend left the shop at 9.15pm.

A black man in his early 20s verbally abused the couple before a scuffle took place and the furniture maker was stabbed in the neck. The man fled with two friends in a black car.

The victim was rushed to Kingston Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and is now recovering at home.

His attacker was wearing beige tracksuit bottoms with a black stripe and is about 6ft 2in. Call DC George Dunne on 020 8247 8875.

November 16, 2001 12:31