A SHOCKED student had his face slashed in an attempted robbery in a park in Farnworth.

Ashley Prince required five stitches to the wound, which was perilously close to his right eye, after being subjected to a terrifying ordeal on his way home from a night out.

A man had sneaked up behind him and tried to steal his mobile phone from his pocket before attacking the University of Bolton biology student in Farnworth Central Park at about 5am on Friday morning.

During the ensuing struggle, which took place in near darkness, Mr Prince, aged 23, felt a sting to his face and managed to escape his attacker.

He noticed that his t-shirt and trousers were covered in blood, which was seeping from an eight-inch knife wound.

The injured Mr Prince, who lives in Stoneclough, then walked to A&E at the Royal Bolton Hospital, where he was treated with five butterfly stitches for his wounds.

He said: “There was this horrible stinging and then I ran off.

“When I looked down, there was blood everywhere on my T-shirt and clothes.

“I don’t know if it was a Stanley knife or what but the blood was everywhere.

“I just thought ‘where is this coming from?’.Then adrenaline kicked in a bit I guess and I just kept going until I got to hospital.”

The attacker did not steal anything in the robbery and Mr Prince said that he was wearing earphones at the time of the attack, which may have made him a target for the attacker.

Mr Prince had been on a night out with friends at Courtney’s Bar in Bolton town centre.

He added: “I will be very wary now walking around at night. It was a very frightening thing to happen.”

Mr Prince described his attacker as a black man, about 6ft tall, wearing black jeans, and a black hooded fleece.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “We received a call about an attempted robbery that occurred at 5am on Friday.

“The man was walking across the park when somebody tried to steal his mobile phone and he received a slash wound to the face.

“It has been reported to us and we are making arrangements to speak with the victim again.”