DETECTIVES investigating a stabbing in Sheffield are linking the attack with two incidents near to pubs in the Wincobank area of the city.
Officers were alerted after a 19-year-old man was driven to hospital by three friends suffering from life-threatening stab wounds to his upper body in the early hours of Saturday.
Today the victim is in a critical but stable condition in the Nort
hern General Hospital and detectives say they are linking the attack with incidents near two pubs at a similar time - around 2.30am.
One incident was near the Wincobank Hotel on Newman Road and the other near the Foundry Arms, on Barrow Road. Detectives have not yet revealed what happened at either pub.
They have also refused to say whether the stab victim was injured in any of the two incidents or elsewhere.
The friends who took the victim to hospital were quizzed by police over the weekend to help establish what exactly happened and all have been released without charge.
A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: "The injured 19-year-old man remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition.
"Police are linking the injuries sustained by the 19-year-old man to two incidents believed to have happened near the Foundry Arms on Barrow Road, and the Wincobank Hotel on Newman Road, Wincobank some time before 2.30am on Saturday."
Areas outside both pubs were cordoned off by police over the weekend while forensic examinations were carried out.
Passersby said police dogs were also spotted and the roads were taped off.
Anyone with information should call the incident room at Ecclesfield Police Station on 0114 2964515.
- The stabbing was one of 14 non-fatal knife attacks over the weekend in Britain.
- Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is reported to be considering forcing doctors to notify stabbing injuries to the authorities - in the same way as gunshot wounds are - to allow police to gather information about incidents that might go unreported.
- Meanwhile Policing Minister Tony McNulty warned carrying knives is getting into teenagers' "collective DNA".
- Calling for tougher sentences for those caught carrying blades, he said: "I'm afraid this is apparently a generational, almost cultural thing that's getting in the collective DNA."
READ MOREMain news indexLettersFind out what else is going on in your area and send us the news that is happening In Your Neighbourhood, click hereCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport.The full article contains 426 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
