A thief threatened to stab a regional daily journalist who tried to stop a gang stealing his father’s car.

Ryan Wood, left, digital editor at the Lancashire Telegraph, was punched in the stomach when he attempted to stop four men from stealing the green Fiat Panda courtesy car from outside his house.

Ryan, 26, was alerted after hearing the front door of his home, in Accrington, open and shut twice.

The quartet were sitting in the car when he went outside, and three ran off after he went to challenge them.

Ryan gave chase across a nearby park and one of the gang is believed to have slipped over in the darkness, dropping his mobile phone in the process.

Ryan told the Telegraph: “He turned to me and said, ‘Give me my phone back or I will stab you’. He then punched me in the stomach as if he was making a stabbing motion with a knife.

“Because it was dark I couldn’t see what was going on. He called for his friends to come back so I just chucked his phone on the grass and walked off.”

When Ryan returned to his house he saw the fourth man reversing the Fiat off the drive and escaping.  He then chased after the three men on foot again but lost them inside the grounds of Accrington and Rossendale College.

No arrests have been made and the car has not been traced since the incident, which happened at around 7.15pm on Monday 28 November.

Three of the men are described as Asian and one was white. They were all around five foot 10 ins and wearing dark clothing.