RAF MILDENHALL, England — It’s been 15 months since Derek Thrower last held a job.

The 63-year-old British man figures he’s lost between $85,000 and $130,000 since May 11, 2005, the night he was stabbed nearly to death by a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant.

He also says he suffers from emotional trauma and is taking anti-depressants.

Although he’s planning to file a civil claim against the U.S. Air Force, he says he’s not acting vindictively or seeking a windfall. Instead, Thrower says, he’s deeply saddened by a brutal incident that has ravaged families on both sides of the ocean.

“I don’t want to see him drawn, quartered and hung,” Thrower says of Lorrenzo Sanchez, the 352nd Special Operations airman who was acquitted of attempted murder. “It’s a tragedy for everyone. Me and my family and friends as well as Mr. Sanchez, his family and friends and the United States Air Force.”

Thrower recently returned to Suffolk from his home in France to meet with attorneys from the Thetford-based legal firm Kester Cunningham John who are handling his claim. The Suffolk native said he wants to avoid what would be a third courtroom battle, however.

“I do not want to sue,” said Thrower, a former oil industry engineer. “I’m hoping the Air Force will see reason and make a suitable offer.”

Sanchez, 28, was acquitted of attempted murder in June in his second trial at the Ipswich Crown Court following a hung jury in a November 2005 trial. The New Mexico native served as a survival and escape specialist with the 352nd and was assigned to this Suffolk installation. He was discharged from the Air Force on July 27 and has returned to the States, according to 352nd spokesman Master Sgt. Dennis Brewer.

Sanchez never denied kicking in Thrower’s hotel room door and stabbing the man 13 times, but the jury found he suffered from a “disassociated state” and was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Thrower, who underwent five hours of surgery to repair a punctured lung and damaged diaphragm, says he was incensed by the verdict and demanded an explanation from the court.

Court officials provided an eight-page report explaining the verdict and Sanchez’s unconditional release. The report mainly explains how British law relates to his case, but also offers a stunning bit of praise for Thrower.

Covered in blood and gasping for air, Thrower wrestled the knife away from the drunk special operations staff sergeant and inflicted several carefully selected injuries. “Mr. Thrower could very easily have killed the defendant and is to be thanked for showing such restraint where many others may well not have done,” the court document states.

Thrower still grows emotional when he speaks about his life-and-death struggle.

“I had the opportunity to kill him and it would have been justified,” he says. “It did cross my mind to cut his throat while he was vulnerable, but I didn’t want that on my conscience.”

Thrower wonders why he never received an apology or explanation from Sanchez, he says. The 352nd commander Col. Brad Webb and Col. Dale Holland were very apologetic and sincere, Thrower says. “That was nice. But that was it. I have never received a letter from the Air Force and never heard an apology or explanation from Sanchez.”

But during a recess at Sanchez’s first trial, a woman who identified herself as Sanchez’s sister approached Thrower.

“She came up to me and said that she was sorry for all that had happened and that she and her family were praying for me and my family to make a full recovery,” he says. “I think it took tremendous courage and guts for her to do that.”

Thrower says little may have changed since he asked the initial investigating officer from his hospital bed what prompted the attack.

“She said, ‘He doesn’t even know why he did it,’” Thrower said. “And I think if you ask him today, he would say the same thing.”

Efforts to find Sanchez for comment were unsuccessful.

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