DEVOTED step-father John Sales revealed he had still kept Flash Day in his will despite him plotting his murder.

Day was sentenced to 25 years in jail yesterday after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder.

Mr Sales, now 72, suffered severe facial injuries in the attack and is still undergoing physiotherapy nearly two years after he was repeatedly stabbed outside his home.

He said: “I just do not want him to come out of jail and have nothing.

“I know what he has done but I have just about left him in my will.

“It is a very unhappy situation and my former wife - his mother - Josephine would be flipping in her grave.

“If he had came and spoke to him I don’t know if I had told him - but if he was really pressuring me I would have told him he was in the will.

“If he had asked me for help I would have helped him, of course I would.”

Mr Sales’ daughter Tanya Ryan, 43, said she could not forgive Day for what he had done.

She said: “We still do not understand why he did it.

“As far as I know there is not any explanation.

“If he had just come to dad everything would have been resolved - this was so much more than a drastic measure.

“We had a good relationship with him on my side of the family, it was exactly like a sister and step brother relationship should be.

“My daughters saw him as an uncle.

“I will never forgive him.

“When he lost members of his family through illness I was there for him.

“But he tried taking my family and I cannot forgive or forget that.”

Mrs Ryan praised emergency services for their work on the case on behalf of her and her brother Corin Sales.

She said: “We would like to thank the emergency services for their fast, professional response on that horrific evening, the staff at Colchester General Hospital who saved my dad’s life and those at Addebrooke’s for their continued work.

“Essex Police and the Major Investigation Team have worked tirelessly to ensure justice was done.

“We now feel like it has been with the sentences given out.

“It has had a massive impact on the family but it has made us stronger together as we have all tried to be there for dad.”

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SPECIALIST family liaison officers helped to crack the case and connect Flash Day to the brutal attack.

Detective Superintendent Monica Ericson lead the investigation in the early stages.

She said: “They are a very close knit family but, like most, there were underlying issues.

“After some probing we started to feel there may be something to connect things with Day and the money.

“It has been a difficult investigation all the way through, from the day it started.

“The sentencing today is really satisfactory.

“The family came looking for justice to be done and it has been.

“Hynes was brazen - it was a really brutal attack and he undoubtedly wanted to commit murder.”

Detective Inspector Al Pitcher, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: “Day is a callous and selfish individual who orchestrated this vicious attack against a member of his own family.

“He was motivated by money and neither he nor Hynes had any regard for the victim.

“It was only good fortune and the excellent medical treatment provided by doctors and emergency services that ensured Mr Sales survived.

“This has been a lengthy and complex investigation and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the case officer Detective Constable Philip Parish and the investigation team for their professionalism and hard work.”

Det Insp Pitcher paid tribute to the Sales family.

He said: “This has been a traumatic investigation for them all.

“They have had to discover things that no family would ever expect to hear.

“I pay tribute to and thank them for their patience, dignity and restraint during the investigation and judicial process.”