A BRAVE Birkenhead student has returned to university just weeks after being stabbed in a terrifying knife attack.

Sean Doyle, a former St John Plessington College pupil, had a knife plunged into his spine on his first day in Wrexham before the start of his degree course at the town’s Glyndwr University.

The 20-year-old is still suffering pain and flashbacks after the attack, which happened in the early hours of October 2.

His attacker was charged with the attempted murder of Sean and the girl he was walking with to the nearby railway station.

However, the kinfeman later died after being taken to hospital from HMP Altcourse.

Sean, who now has no feeling in his left thigh, said he had seen a man walking behind him and tried to protect his companion.

He said: “I put the girl in front of me to make sure she was safe and kept walking.

“The next minute I felt this sharp pinching pain in my back.

"I wondered what it was – I didn’t know I’d been stabbed until later.”

The attacker jumped on Sean, holding the knife to his throat, before turning his attention to the girl.

“He pulled two knives out and went for the girl,” recalled youth and community work student Sean.

“I stepped in the way and told him to come for me instead.

“I backed off and thought if I ran he would come after me, which he did, so I ran towards the security office at Wrexham Village student accommodation.”

Wrexham resident Eleanor Owen rushed to the scene to help Paul.

Eleanor, who is aged 18,  said: “My mum is a nurse so I went to check it out and see if I could assist in any way.

“There was a lot of blood so I put pressure on the wound and tried to keep him calm.”

Sean said he is thankful to the university, especially the students’ guild, and was looking forward to carrying on with his studies.

He added: “I wanted to speak out and thank Eleanor and the other people at the university who’ve helped me over the past couple of months. They’ve all been awesome.

“This incident happened the day I arrived and was traumatic and tragic, but from that I’ve made friends that will be with me for the rest of my life.”