Portsmouth stabbing: Victim of Tangier Road attack was carried down street before collapsing in a pool of his own blood, witnesses say

The violence erupted in Lynton Grove, Copnor, last night, between 10.30pm and 10.50pm when a 31-year-old from Portsmouth was stabbed twice.

Moments before, residents reported hearing a loud argument taking place between a gang of men, with one man seen to be ‘waving a knife in the air and screaming’.

Rachel Jenkins, 47, of Lynton Grove was woken by the noise and said she was horrified by what she saw.

‘I just heard all this loud shouting and screaming from outside,’ she said. ‘I looked out my window and saw this guy wearing a white tee-shirt come running down the road.

‘He had something in his hand. It looked like a knife. He was waving it about, screaming and shouting.

‘A few minutes later I saw these two blokes carrying another guy on the path by my house. His feet were dragging on the floor. He looked in a really bad way.’

The victim left a trail of blood all down Lynton Grove and Tangier Road, where he eventually collapsed.

The violence is thought to have sparked following an altercation inside the Co-Operative, in Tangier Road minutes earlier.

Men were heard arguing in the store, before the row spilled out into Tangier Road and then escalated in Lynton Grove, where the victim was stabbed.

Mrs Jenkins added: ‘My son, Jake, came home and said he saw the bloke lying in a pool of blood, with paramedics and ambulances everywhere.

‘When he said that I just felt sick. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. I moved from London to get away from knife crime and now it’s on my doorstep.’

The victim suffered serious injuries and was taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital.

Much of Lynton Grove was sealed off behind a police cordon this morning as forensic officers combed the area for clues.

Meanwhile, detectives are still hunting for the suspect, who remains at large.

Marilyn Collinson, 70, has lived in Lynton Grove for 50 years and couldn’t believe what had happened.

She said: ‘It’s dreadful. I didn’t know a thing about it until I woke up this morning.

‘It’s the first stabbing I can think of in all my time being here. We sometimes get the odd fight but nothing like this.’

A spokesman for Hampshire police said they were ‘investigating’ the attack and that officers had been carrying out door-to-door enquiries.

‘No-one has been arrested at this stage,’ he added. ‘Anyone who saw or heard any of the assault or what led to it, is asked to contact the Eastern Investigation Team on 101 and quote crime number 44190136697. Alternatively Crimestoppers can also be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111. ‘

The incident is the latest in a string of violent crimes to rock the city this year.

In February, a police officer was stabbed in the back while patrolling Stamshaw Park.

It came just days after a 21-year-old man was shot in the leg in at a property in Hudson Road.

Meanwhile, knife crime incidents across Hampshire have increased by more than 25 per cent in just eight years, according to latest figures.

Last month, officers launched an operation to tackle the knife crime epidemic, seizing 140 blades in a week-long crackdown between March 11 and 17.