A MAN is in hospital after being repeatedly stabbed in front of horrified town centre shoppers.

The 29-year-old suffered multiple stab wounds during an altercation in Ferryhill, County Durham, at lunchtime.

He was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City.

A spokesman for Durham Police said his injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

The incident happened in Market Street, yards from town centre shops and pubs and amid the town’s weekly market, filled with shoppers.

Detectives were  questioning people in the town and crime scene investigators set up a cordon at the scene, where blood could be seen on the pavement.

A spokesman for Durham Police said officers received a report of a disturbance in Boots, in Durham Road, Ferryhill, at about noon.

It is believed a further altercation followed in nearby Market Street, during which the stabbing took place.

A short time later, three men, aged 57, 24 and 64, were arrested in connection with the incident.

It is understood that one of the men surrendered to police and handed in a knife believed to have been the weapon used.

The injured man was named locally as Paul Hutchinson, also known as Paul Short, who is from nearby Ferryhill Station.

His brother, Shaun Short, 26, said: “Our mam was in the sunbed shop over the road and came running out and saw what was going on. She saw blood all over him and was going off it.

“It was on his head and all over his shirt.”

Mr Short said that medics suspected his brother had suffered a punctured lung and his mother, Doreen Short, had travelled with him to hospital.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Spennymoor CID on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111.