A man has been jailed for more than 10 years after seriously wounding an Accrington man and then fleeing abroad.

Police were called to reports of a serious stabbing at an address in Blackburn and found 34-year-old Accrington man Merban Hussain ‘bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds to his legs’.

The officers provided life-saving first aid to the victim following the incident on February 17 last year and arrested two other men at the scene.

Mr Hussain suffered ‘life changing injuries’, police said.

Qamar Abbas, 39, was subsequently charged with wounding with intent.

Lancashire Police said Abbas subsequently fled to Pakistan after he secured bail and refused to return to the UK until May this year when he returned and pleaded guilty to the charge.

Qamar Abbas, of Whitendale Crescent, Blackburn, has now been sentenced at Preston Crown Court to 10 years and two months.

Detective Sgt Andy Horne, of Blackburn CID, said: “Without the bravery of the officers who first attended this horrific scene the victim Mr Hussain would have died.

“This sentence is testimony to them, to the tenacious work of Detective Constable Tony Roberts and to the courage of the victim.”