Akbar, 48, told the Guardian he was attacked just after 8am on Christmas Eve: I opened the door and then a masked man started punching me, after asking are you Shahzad Akbar?' I must have got 25-30 punches on my face. The man seemed trained to do what he was doing: proper footwork like a boxer, going only for my face My children and wife were terrorised and screaming. Akbar says he managed to push the attacker out of his house.