A veteran who played a key role in the D-Day landings has blamed himself for the attack by a bogus builder who left him for dead, claiming his special services training should have helped him.

Jim Booth, 96, said he was to blame for the brutal attack at his Taunton home on November 22 which left him with multiple skull fractures and in a life-threatening condition.

The army veteran claimed he was “just too old” to deal with the situation after Joseph Isaacs, 40, attacked him when he answer the doorbell.

Mr Booth, who joined the Royal Navy aged 18 and served throughout the Second World War, said: “I think I probably just defended myself.

“But I'm very much saying, I blame myself because I was special services you know, I think I should really have known how to deal with this but I didn't, I was too old obviously.”

The great grandfather was attacked when Isaacs came to the door claiming to be a builder and offered to fix some broken roof tiles.