Body found in pool of blood.

Byline: By Chloe Griffiths

A community reacted with horror yesterday after a man was found stabbed to death in a back alley behind a busy shopping centre.

People living in Felling, Gateshead, were stunned after waking up to find nine different streets in the Crowhall Lane shopping area sealed off after the discovery of the man lying in a pool of blood.

The victim had been stabbed in the chest, but was still alive when he was found by a member of the public in a loading bay area behind Felling Community Centre and the Gray Hound Pub at 9.25pm on Sunday night.

He was taken to Gateshead's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, but attempts to resuscitate him failed.

A father-of-two, who preferred not to be named, from the multi-storey Crowhall Towers ( which overlooks the murder scene ( watched attempts to save the victim.

He said: "My friend's car was parked in the alley, but when we went to get it there were police everywhere.

"This lad was lying on the ground and there was blood everywhere. The ambulance arrived pretty quickly and they were obviously trying to stop the bleeding, but it didn't look good. It's pretty worrying when it's so close to your home."

A post-mortem was being held last night.

Det Chief Insp Roger Ford said: "This inquiry is still at a very early stage and we are yet to identify exactly who the victim is. We are carrying out numerous inquiries in the area to establish who the man is and what has happened. We would like to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time."

Forensic officers were yesterday combing the scene.