AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after a man was found injured in a park in Braintree.

Police and paramedics were called to a playing field off Panfield Lane after a 20-year-old man had been found with a reported cut to his arm.

The man had been seen by eyewitnesses staggering around near the O’Grady’s pub before one member of the public rang 999 for help.

Paramedics were able to treat the victim at the scene.

One eyewitness, who was walking his dogs with his wife at the time, says the man appeared to have been attacked with a knife.

He also feared the injured man could have died from blood loss if he did not receive medical attention.

He said: “The man was covered in blood.

“He will probably say he fell over and did it but he told us he was stabbed and they were coming for him which is why he staggered on towards the pub.

“His arm was opened up so deep you could see bone. He lost a lot of blood and he looked in a bad way.”

The eyewitness estimates the man’s cut was around five inches in size.

He added: “The cut was clean and was on the back of the forearm.

“I was worried about who was after him but my main concern was the lad.”

Officers are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the man’s injuries, which they say were not as serious as first thought.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We are investigating after a man was found injured in a park in Panfield Lane, Braintree, shortly after 7.35pm on Tuesday, May 28.

“The 20-year-old man had a cut to his arm, which was not life threatening.

“Witnesses are asked to call Braintree CID.”

We contacted the ambulance service for a comment.

Anyone with information should call 101, quoting reference 42/84134/19.