Three dead after wave of stabbings

Police across England are investigating a spate of stabbings that have claimed three lives.

In the latest incident, a pub manager was knifed in the buttocks during a street robbery in Sidcup, southeast London.

The victim, who is in his late '20s, was carrying takings from the Horse and Groom pub in Main Road to a local bank when three muggers in their mid-20s struck. He is seriously ill in hospital.

The attack came just hours after a man appeared in court charged with stabbing Harry Potter actor Rob Knox to death at a Sidcup bar.

Another five victims, all male and aged between 16 and 21, needed hospital treatment after being stabbed in the fight.

Avon and Somerset Police have arrested three men aged 30, 27 and 19 over an "unprovoked" attack that led to the death of a family man in Bristol.

Alan Riddock, 41, died in hospital on Sunday after sustaining knife and head wounds in an attack near the Park House pub in Bedminster.

Another man, aged 38, was taken to the Bristol Royal Infirmary with a stab wound and broken jaw.

Police in West Yorkshire have arrested eight men in connection with a street fight in which a 31-year-old man was stabbed to death.

The victim was killed during violence in the Manningham area of Bradford, West Yorkshire, in which a 27-year-old man was also seriously injured.

Five men aged 19, 20, 22, 23 and 26 were arrested on suspicion of murder and three men aged 22, 27 and 33 were arrested for violent disorder.

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said both victims received stab wounds, but detectives were also investigating witness reports of gunshots.

Five men suffered stab wounds after a fight broke out in the Bird In Hand pub in Bromley, southeast London, on Monday night.

Four men, aged 24, 28, 29 and 30, were arrested at the scene and are being questioned.

And a man has appeared in court charged with attacking two 19-year-old men outside East Ham Underground station on Sunday night.

One man was found with serious stab wounds and is in hospital while a second victim was discovered with head injuries in nearby Burges Road and taken to hospital before being discharged.

Vijitharan Velupillai, 20, of St James' Road, Stratford, east London, appeared at Stratford Magistrates' Court charged with two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and was remanded in custody.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.