Knife burglar a criminal at 14

The horrific criminal record of serial burglar Thomas Read, who left a distinguished historian for dead after stabbing her 19 times in her home, has been revealed.

Read, 24, was jailed for life at the Old Bailey for the vicious assault on Amanda Girling Budd after trying to break into her Hackney flat as she worked at her computer.

During the attack, Ms Girling Budd, 48, struggled with Read, who punched her in the face and repeatedly stabbed her in the chest and abdomen before rifling through her belongings.

Judge Richard Hayward called it "a truly appalling attack on a defenceless woman in her own home".

Read, of Walthamstow, was cleared of attempted murder but found guilty of aggravated burglary and grievous bodily harm with intent.

Ms Girling Budd, who was attacked after confronting Read as he looked through her front door, required extensive surgery and survived to see him sentenced to life on Monday.

As the criminal record obtained by the Evening Standard shows, Read has convictions for 33 previous offences dating back to the age of 14, including burglary, shoplifting, and an attack in which he stabbed a motorist 10 times with an electric screwdriver.

He was once given three years' youth custody for threatening a householder with a crowbar during a burglary, but his sentence was reduced on appeal to 18 months.

Two months after attacking Ms Girling Budd he was jailed for four years for a string of burglaries and handling stolen goods. He was in already in custody when he was arrested for the assault on her.

Police say he travelled in a dilapidated fire engine and went to raves and new age festivals, burgling houses to buy drugs.

He raided Oxfam skips for clean clothes and squatted in derelict premises.

Read, originally from Bristol, boasted about his transient lifestyle. While on trial at the Old Bailey he showed off his numerous tattoos.

Judge Hayward told him: "You have spent your life preying on the community-I regard you as a very vicious and dangerous young man." Ms Girling Budd worked as a Thames Television producer and director for 12 years before embarking on a new career as an historian and academic. She is respected for her knowledge of 19th-century antique furniture.

She said she did not want to talk about the ordeal.

A friend said: "Amanda is a very private person and she kept the incident very much to herself but it was a terrible time for her. The sentence appears to reflect that."