'We saved his life' - Teenager stabbed at Havant train station saved by soldier and passersby

The victim was left with blood pouring from suspected stab wounds to the arm from a zombie knife on Sunday (November 17) around 5pm. He was rushed to hospital and survived the attack but has been left with possible “life changing injuries”, as previously reported.

Three teenagers have since been arrested following the savage assault with a 17-year-old due to appear before Portsmouth Youth Court on Tuesday after being charged with wounding with intent. The other two teenagers were arrested on suspicion of wounding with intent and have been bailed pending further enquiries.

The incident happened near the front of the busy station in front of shocked people who were making their way home. Teenagers were seen scraping when the victim collapsed to the floor as blood poured out from his wounds. The News understands he and his friends were chased from a nearby park by a gang of armed teenagers.

Luckily for the victim, a woman and man stopped to help before army warrant officer Danny Harling dashed over to help. The 39-year-old witnessed the horror unfold before his eyes while waiting in his car with his wife and children to pick up his son.

The off-duty soldier, of 16 Regiment Royal Artillery based on Thorney Island, said his “army training kicked in” as he went over to help the seriously injured boy on the ground.

The dad told The News: “We were sat in the car when my wife spotted a group of teenagers fighting by the train station when a lad came running over and said: ‘They’ve got knives and have stabbed my mate. They’re going to stab me.’ I knew I had to get involved or (the injured boy) may die.”

The attackers fled the scene before the woman, who was on crutches, and man went to the aid of the victim. Danny got out of his car and joined the efforts to save the boy. “The other two people were trying to stop the bleeding using a lace, I could see the boy was losing a lot of blood. My army training just kicked in and I started to make a tourniquet from a strap on the bottom of the woman’s crutches to stop the bleeding,” Danny said.

“We were reassuring him but he was going into shock. It looked like he had been stabbed twice in the arm - with a zombie knife from what I heard.

“The inside of his arm was slit while the outside was ripped and split very badly. The wound was massive. “I thought to myself, ‘he’s really in trouble’.”

Police arrived at the scene and put up a cordon with Danny saying he was left with the two other members of public to deal with the injured boy. Paramedics arrived moments later and gave the victim blood clotting medication to slow the bleeding before he was put into an ambulance.

Danny was critical of the police response, saying: “The police were so incompetent. People were telling them who the boys were and where they had run off to but they were not doing anything about it. One of them even asked me what the time was. The police took my details but have not contacted me.”

Without the intervention of himself and the other members of the public Danny believes the situation would have been very different. “I think we saved his life,” he said, before adding: “I did stop to think about the situation I was in but if that was my son injured I would want someone to help him.

“I’ve been in the army for 22 years and been out in places like Afghanistan and I just went into army mode to help him. The woman and man who were helping the boy did really well. It’s good to see there are people like that around. There were other people about who did not stop to help.”

Danny’s wife Alex added: “It was lucky my husband was there and knew how to help the young boy while many other people were walking away or just watching. The police didn’t do anything when they turned up.

“A lady and another man were helping to stop the bleeding but there was a lot of blood so my husband made a tourniquet. A lot of people feel they saved his life.”

A British Transport Police spokesperson previously said: “Officers were called to Havant station shortly before 5pm on Sunday 17 November following reports of a serious assault. Paramedics also attended, and a person was taken to hospital with life changing injuries that are consistent with stabbing.”

Det sgt Garry Knight said: “While we believe this to be an isolated incident the public will continue to see an increase in high visibility patrols in the areas and across the network.

“Our detectives and officers continue to work with colleagues at Hampshire Police to provide reassurance to the local community.”