A MAN was found collapsed and bleeding at a Southend shopping centre.

The man, in his late teens, was found slumped outside New Look in the Victoria shopping centre with a trail of blood behind him as paramedics and police officers rushed to help him.

A trail of blood was seen leading out on to the shopping centre by the train station with onlookers fearing he had been stabbed in the leg.

However, it is thought the blood was from a previous wound for which his stitches had come apart.

Dennis Baldry, manager of the shopping centre, said: “A male came into the centre with an injury he sustained outside of the shopping centre.

“He was attended to by centre staff, PCSOs and the ambulance service and received appropriate treatment before being picked up by relatives”

Connor Botwright, 22, of Eastwoodbury Crescent, rushed his 16-year-old sister past the dramatic scene.

He said: “There was blood everywhere. I didn’t want her seeing that.

“He looked like a regular guy but he didn’t have shoes on and he looked really pale.

“I can't for the life of me think why he was going there – where he was trying to get to? I’m just shocked he was allowed to walk that far without someone stopping him.

“I could see his footprints going over the road.

“There were police, about 30 onlookers and six or seven paramedics.

“I was shocked to see it. It’s not something you want from your home town.”

The incident happened at about 6pm on Monday.