A NEIGHBOUR has relived the moment she fought in vain to save a man who had been fatally stabbed.

Marta Policha ran out into the street to give first aid to James Murray after she spotted his legs sticking out from behind a car in Largs Road, Blackburn, in the early hours of yesterday.

Detectives launched a murder investigation as they revealed the 51-year-old, known to his friends as ‘Jimmy’, had died a short time later in Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Officers said the Shadsworth incident was the third stabbing in Blackburn in just two days after a man in his 20s was assaulted in Mill Hill at around 11am on Sunday, and a 23-year-old man suffered stab wounds to his arm and back in an attack in Grimshaw Park after midnight on Sunday.

Police said a 55-year-old man from Blackburn was arrested on suspicion of murder and was last night in police custody.

Ms Policha, who was trained in first aid, said: “It was about 1am and I was getting ready to go to sleep when I heard some voices on the street.

“I saw my neighbour on the phone and I could see some legs sticking out from behind a car.

“I heard someone say they did not know if they were breathing and were calling for an ambulance.

“I could see a guy lying on the ground and when I felt for a pulse there wasn’t one.

“I did CPR with the woman on the phone talking me through it.

“When the ambulance arrived I helped get him onto the trolley.

“There was a pulse at that point. I think he was alive when he went into the ambulance.

“My first thought was to go and help. I did not realise what had happened.

“I was told later he had been stabbed by a knife.

“I could see the wound to his abdomen.

“It is worrying. This is not a normal thing to happen and now I am worried about whether it is safe to live here.”

Yesterday a police cordon was set up across Largs Road from the junction with Oban Road, while crime scene investigators in white suits could be seen in the front garden and pavement outside the property.

A number of officers and a police dog were also seen searching the front gardens, bushes and bins of houses in Largs Road.

Another neighbour said: “I was still awake at about 1am and saw flashing blue lights.

“I saw an ambulance and I thought it might have been for a neighbour who is poorly but then four police cars showed up and then the CSI van.

“Then a big van came and took a car away.

“It is really sad. When it happens just a few feet from your front door it is really shocking.”

One resident said: “I was woken up by blue flashing lights then I saw someone being put into the back of an ambulance.

“It drove off and then another one turned up and was there for about two hours.

“When we saw the police were still there this morning we thought it must have been something really bad.”

Detectives urged anyone with information about the incident to come forward.

Det Ch Insp Gareth Willis, of the Force Major Investigation Team, said: “We are in the early stages of our investigation into how this man has received his injuries before he died.

“If you know anything that you think could help with our investigation, please call us.”

Det Supt Paul Withers said: “There have been a number of stabbing incidents over the weekend.

“I can’t say at this stage that they are linked.

“People should not be concerned because they are isolated incidents.”

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.