A DOORMAN who was the victim of an alleged attack outside a Blackburn pub denied that shotgun killing victim Darren Bell was with him on the night of the incident.

And he has described as nonsense rumours that Mr Bell was responsible for the attack.

Stewart Shand, 24, suffered deep cuts to his forehead and neck in an alleged knuckle duster attack outside O'Neills bar in King William Street earlier this year. But he said his friend of ten years, Mr Bell, was working as a doorman at another bar in town that night.

"People have got the wrong end of the stick," said Mr Shand. "They have been asking me why Darren attacked me, which isn't true.

"Darren didn't even know I had been injured until the end of the night. As soon as he found out he came to hospital to see me."

Mr Bell, 31, was shot at a house in Mona Road, Blackburn, in the early hours of last Thursday.

Two people have since appeared in court charged with his murder.

"People have read about both incidents in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph and got confused," said Mr Shand.

"Darren was a good friend of mine and there was no bad blood between us. Like a lot of people I have been saddened by his death."