THIS is the horrific knife injury that led officials to shut down a Bournemouth town centre nightclub.

Brave Ben Selby needed 50 stitches after being slashed from his eye to his chin when violence erupted at V Club in Bournemouth’s Exeter Road.

He had stepped in to defend friends after another clubber pulled out a knife on the dance floor following an argument in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Three of Ben’s pals, including a young woman, suffered superficial knife wounds during the attack.

Ben, who will be scarred for life, is recovering at home following an operation at Poole Hospital to stitch up his face. Town Hall officials have temporarily suspended the club’s licence following advice from police, who believe the premises is “associated with serious crime”.

The 29-year-old, who is a regular on Bournemouth’s club scene, told the Daily Echo: “Everyone at V Club apart from one member of door staff did absolutely nothing to help. The majority of the staff were simply shocking. During the altercation on the dance floor, before the knife was pulled out, there was a doorman watching for the whole time. No-one intervened.

“Then, after it all happened and there was blood everywhere – and instead of detaining the guy until the police arrived, they let him go. They actually had him but just threw him out.”

Ben only realised he had been badly slashed after looking down and seeing his T-shirt drenched in blood.

“It just felt like I’d been punched at first,” he recalled. “But then I glanced up and saw this girl at the top of the stairs staring back at me with this look on her face.

“It was like she’d just seen the worst thing in the world. Then I held my face and looked down. When I saw the amount of blood I thought, ‘Oh no, this is bad’.’”

Ben’s friend, Jody Hall, said some staff were in tears and appeared to have no idea of how to respond in the aftermath.

He added: “I feel really bad that Ben jumped in on an argument I was having. He was trying to save me, to break this up, but it was him who got injured. I feel awful about it.”

However, the pair both praised one female bouncer for her help.

Ben said: “This blonde bouncer called Claire turned up a few minutes afterwards. She looked at me and said, ‘I’ve been a medic in the army, I’m medically trained, let me deal with this?’ “She was awesome – she took complete control, wrapped my head up and dealt with everything. ”

But Ben stressed he was shocked with how other staff responded. “Apart from this one bouncer they were awful, before and afterwards. I will not let any of my friends go to V Club again because it is not a safe place.”

The Daily Echo has made attempts to contact the club, but has received no response so far.

In the wake of the incident Dorset Police pressed for a review of the club’s license, which the council’s sub-committee suspended until March.

  • Police arrested a 30-year-old Bournemouth man following the incident. He has been released on bail while enquiries continue.