A MAN who was in the room when his friend suffered a fatal knife wound has spoken of his horror at what happened.

Tony Houghton was one of four people arrested as police launched a murder inquiry following the incident but has now been released without charge.

He told how he tried to revive unconscious Neil Francis Walsh, 47, after a vein and an artery in his leg were severed by a kitchen knife.

A woman who lives at the house in Harwood Street, Darwen, where Mr Walsh died and another man who lives elsewhere in the town have also been released without charge.

A 36-year-old man who also lives at the house is still on bail pending further inquiries.

Mr Houghton, of Clement Street, Darwen, said: "We had been out in the afternoon at the Millstone pub and Neil had gone back to the house on Harwood Street. I went later on in the evening.

"Everybody was getting along well. There was no bad atmosphere. There was no problems, no arguments."

The 52-year-old added: "I didn't see what happened. The first thing I saw was all the blood. There was so much of it, it was like a blood bath."

Mr Houghton said he went to next door neighbour Eileen Clinton-Smith, 50, to get help.

"I was shaking so much I couldn't dial for an ambulance so I got her to do it," he said. "I was giving Neil mouth to mouth and the woman was giving him CPR.

"He lost consciousness straight away. I knew he was dying. His eyes had rolled back into his head. There was nothing there any more.The blood was just spurting out of him."

The knife had severed a pulmonary artery and punctured a pulmonary vein. Mr Walsh died at the scene from blood loss.

Police treated the house as a murder scene. and the four people at the house were arrested and held overnight for questioning.

"I felt awful in the morning when I woke up in a police cell and realised that Neil was gone," said Mr Houghton.

Mr Walsh suffered from learning difficulties and was waiting to be allocated permanent accommodation. He had been staying with Mr Houghton at the time of his death.

"I had known him for over 20 years," said Mr Houghton. "He was very sociable and got on well with everybody. He was into his music, especially underground punk stuff. He played the guitar and made a right racket - but to him it was great.

"He was also really interested in tractors after having spent some time doing work on a farm in Edgworth, where he went to a special school.

"Neil never hurt anybody in his life."

Det Supt Mick Gradwell, senior investigating officer, said: "A prosecution file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration."