AN eyewitness has described seeing two men arguing down an alleyway before one emerged bleeding heavily and collapsed with ‘multiple’ stab wounds and an apparent head injury.

The man, named locally as Paul Gill, is believed to have been stabbed in Nash’s Passage, which connects New Street with City Walls Road, Worcester.

He eventually collapsed outside Wise Owl Toys in Charles Street.

The witness, who owns a nearby business, was walking back from Marks & Spencer on Friday evening, around 5.55pm, when he saw the confrontation.

“I was aware of guys in the doorway down there and then there was obviously a bit of commotion but all I saw was the guy walk past here.

“He’d obviously had a confrontation, but he was walking up right, so I was surprised when I then saw commotion down there [in Charles Street],” he said on Saturday.

“There was a lot of blood, but he didn’t look like he was going to fall over. He had blood pouring all down the side of his head.”

The witness pointed out the blood spots on the step of a door leading to flats in Nash’s Passage where he said the argument was taking place, and where he said police had called in earlier on Saturday.

A woman later emerged from the door with a bicycle but refused to speak to our reporter.

The witness said it was a “little while” after he first saw the man before anything seemed to happen, but then he heard a passer-by talking about it and three police cars drove past.

“They must have been doing 60mph towards Marks & Spencer and then whipped round and gone back on the City Walls Road.

“I walked down to the corner to see what was going on. It wasn’t random, it wasn’t two people completely unknown to each other.

“I’m not sure who is the victim and who did the attacking.”

Asked if the police had told him anything, he said: “They were keeping it under their hat, in fact we’ve hardly seen them, they haven’t interviewed us. They came in this morning. It was all taped off and we weren’t sure if we would be able to get in – quite a few businesses said that because it was taped off all the way down.”

He said he didn’t see the stabbing and it was only when he saw the “extent of it” in Charles Street that he realised how badly he was injured.

“I just looked down the road and there was so many people come out of the pub [The Eagle Vaults] stood watching I went down to see what was going on, turned the corner and was surprised to see how much activity there was.

“When we left they were just closing off the other end of the street. I don’t know what the consensus is about what people are saying is the cause of it. They’re known to each other, I’m sure of that,” he added.

Almost a dozen emergency vehicles were present in and off Charles Street on Friday evening, with police dogs and armed officers deployed and police tape blocking off the entire road as well as some of New Street.

Nash’s Passage was also taped off at both ends.

On Saturday morning an officer was stationed outside the flat door where the stabbing is believed to have taken place, while a police car was parked at the entrance to the alley on City Walls Road.

The tape had, however, all been removed and the alleyway was open to pedestrians.

A shop owner on Charles Street told the Worcester News on Saturday morning he heard an ambulance and looked outside to see “a guy on the floor and there was blood”.

"I saw the guy was on the floor with ambulance staff around him, paramedics are on him," he continued.

“When I saw the ambulance stop here, I thought it might be some elderly people or something, and something had happened.

"I saw the ambulance and I thought it was going to go past, but then it stopped.”

A shop worker on New Street said she came to work around 8am on Saturday and the police tape had already been removed.

“When I was going home [on Friday] the police cars were charging everywhere and we kept hearing sirens here and there and then when I was driving home there were police cars going here and turning the other way, it was all very manic.”

Another eyewitness said he had called 999 after he became concerned because ambulance staff had arrived but no police “for a long time”.

That witness, who had been walking up New Street at the time of the incident, told us on Friday evening: “The lad ran out of the alleyway, then took his top off and it was clear he’d been stabbed about five times. He was stood there a long time before anyone realised what had happened. When he took his shirt off there was loads of blood, it went all over the pavement.”

He said the man was surrounded by "mates" who he was telling to help him with his T-shirt before he collapsed.

In a statement released on Saturday morning, Detective Sergeant Dan Fenn said the victim “sustained stab wounds” and was taken to hospital via air ambulance “where he continues to receive treatment”.

“This is believed to be an isolated incident with no wider threat to the public,” he said.

“Investigations are ongoing and we are appealing for any witnesses to this assault.”

If you have any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, call West Mercia Police on 101, quoting incident number 630s of 20 September 20.

Alternatively, information can be passed to the independent charity Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or via their website.