Man in critical condition after knife attack (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Man in critical condition after knife attack

8:25am Friday 16th February 2007 in Swindon By Gazette Reporter

Police investigating the stabbing of a man in Manchester Road are treating the assault as attempted murder.

Officers believe the attacker was out to kill his victim when he knifed him at 2.40am yesterday.

The 45-year-old man is critically ill in hospital after being stabbed three times while he was in the town's red light district.

Police say the exact location of the stabbing is unknown.

Det Chief Insp Bob Hamlin said: "We believe it occurred in the Manchester Road area, but equally, it may well have been County Road or the Corporation Street areas but following the assault, the victim knocked on the doors of a café in Manchester Road, near to the Tap and Barrel public house."

The row of shops including the café where the man ended up was cordoned off yesterday while crime scene investigators gathered evidence.

The victim is from the Swindon area but police have not yet been able to establish his marital status or whether he has family.

Det Chief Insp Hamlin, who is leading the inquiry, has appealed for help from the public.

"The full circumstances surrounding this incident are still unclear, and we have been unable to talk to the victim because of his critical condition in hospital," he said.

"I am looking to the public for help in trying to establish exactly what happened."

Officers want to hear from anyone who was in the Manchester Road and County Road area at about 2.40am so they can eliminate them from inquiries.

They also want to hear from any taxi drivers who were in the area and anyone who saw an argument or altercation taking place as well as anyone who knows of someone who had heavily bloodstained clothing or unexplained injuries.

Nisar Ahmed, who owns Ahmed's Fabrics and Textiles and a paper shop, Ahmed's Premier, was forced to close his shops yesterday while police investigated the scene.

His two premises are in the same row as the café where the man went for help.

He said: "I heard that two men pulled up in a car and tried to rob him.

"When he said he didn't have any money they just stabbed him.

"I just hope he's okay.

"The police were going in people's garden's looking for something so it must be pretty serious."

Mr Ahmed arrived at 6am to open the paper shop and found the scene cordoned off.

"There's not normally trouble here but when I arrived I saw something must have happened because the police were all here."

Anyone with information should contact Swindon police on 0845 408 7000 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.