TWO men are still being questioned by police after a 30-year-old man was stabbed to death following a pub brawl.

Keith Platt suffered multiple stab wounds when he was attacked in Higher Market Street, Farnworth, after a fight in the Post Office pub.

Police officers patrolling the Church Road area saw a fight had broken out and found Mr Platt bleeding in the street.

The attack on Mr Platt at 11.15pm on Friday was one of three fatal stabbings across Greater Manchester at the weekend while police in London are hunting two hooded youths believed to have knifed a 15-year-old to death on Saturday night.

Today, the father of popular window cleaner Mr Platt, from Kearsley, branded his son's killers cowards for going out armed with lethal weapons.

He said his son had been enjoying a night out in Farnworth when he was stabbed outside the Post Office pub.

Landlady Christine Rawcliffe, aged 53, said she handed a 10-inch carving knife found on the dancefloor to police after the killing.

She said a fight in the pub involving four men, including Mr Platt's half-brother Tony Callaghan, had spilled out into the street where it had escalated.

Up to 12 men were involved in the fight while many others looked on, she said.

"There was a fight and Tony got a busted nose but by the time we got to the dancefloor it was all over. We closed the bar and shut the music down and they moved on.

"Afterwards, we found a knife on the dancefloor and when I realised the lad had been stabbed I thought it might have come from the same kitchen drawer."

After police found Mr Platt bleeding in the street, an ambulance was called and paramedics attempted to stem the bleeding. He died at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said: "The man suffered a stabbing wound to his lower abdomen. He was conscious and talking while on the way to the hospital.

"Paramedics worked to treat to the victim as he was rushed to hospital where medical teams had been put on stand-by."

Mr Platt's death comes just four months after 25-year-old Rabid Amin was stabbed to death during a fight in Bradshawgate, Bolton.

At the time, Bolton's Chief Supt Dave Lea said: "We do not have the levels of knife crime that many of our neighbours have, but obviously one young person carrying a knife is one too many."

In January, four teenagers were stabbed during a street brawl in Breightmet and in December a 15-year-old suffered knife wounds after being attacked in a ginnell in St George's Road, Bolton.

Mr Platt was the only child of Colin Platt, aged 58, of Grosvenor Street, Kearsley.

He said: "I can't believe what has happened. Keith had injured his back and had not been out for a while.

"It is the first time in months he had gone out. I am just in shock.

"People who carry knives are cowards, but they do not see it that way. Something has to be done. There were two other murders on the same night in Manchester."

Postman Mr Platt added: "Keith was easy-going. He was a lad' but not a troublemaker. I need to know what happened on that night and for justice to be done.

"We just don't know what happened. I would appeal to anyone who saw anything to please contact the police."

Mr Platt was a window cleaner in the area but his back injury had kept him off work. A former pupil of Plodder Lane and St James CE High School in Farnworth, he lived with his mother, Julie Fitzsimmons, a few houses away from his father.

Mr Platt said: "Keith was very creative and loved drawing. He used to draw caricatures, and he loved animals. He was like me in that way.

"He was well-known through his job and well-loved."

Police taped off Church Road and part of Higher Market Street outside the Post Office pub. Scenes of crime and forensic officers worked throughout the night.

The cordons were lifted by Sunday.

Farnworth councillor Jim Lord said: "It is terrible when a young man goes out for a night out and it ends like this. My sympathies go out to the family.

"Something needs to be done, but there is no easy answer. The police were patrolling the streets and were on the scene within seconds, but it only takes a split second to stab somebody."

He added: "When someone carries a knife they are doing it for a reason. We can't put CCTV everywhere or stop and search and it is hard to know how to change this culture.

"Farnworth does not have the problems of guns like other places, but knife crime is just as bad. This problem does not just affect Farnworth but places up and down the country."

A police spokesman said: "Detectives are calling for witnesses, or anybody who was in the area of the Post Office pub in Higher Market Street at the time of the incident to get in touch."

Three men were arrested on suspicion of murder on Friday night. An 18-year-old has now been bailed, pending further inquiries.

Officers have been granted extra time to question two men, aged 19 and 20.

Anyone with information should contact police on 0161 856 5740 if you can help.

The rise in knife culture in Bolton as a town and Greater Manchester as a whole has prompted dozens of comments on our original report on the murder of Keith Platt on this website on Saturday morning. Click HERE to read them and add your opinions.