A father has died after being stabbed while trying to protect his son against a gang of youths who were attacking him in a public park.

Mohammed Shafiq, 50, a father of seven, who lived in Nelson, Lancashire, was hit on the back of the head with an iron bar and stabbed in the stomach. He died later in hospital.

The case has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission after it emerged that Mr Shafiq phoned police shortly before he was killed.

Detectives, who are questioning five youths, believe that the killing is related to an incident last October when the dead man’s son, Umar, 18, was assaulted for apparently looking the “wrong way” at another youth.

It is believed that Umar, who has been studying for his A levels at Burnley College, had complained recently of intimidation and bullying.

Umar is understood to have telephoned his father at lunchtime on Tuesday to tell him that he had run into trouble in Thompson Park, near the college, where, accompanied by one or two friends, he faced a much larger group of youths.

Mr Shafiq’s family say that he telephoned police to tell them that he believed his son was in danger before driving four miles to the park from his home to Burnley. A crowd of up to

50 mainly Punjabi-speaking Asian youths had gathered beside the boating lake at Thompson Park, although police believe that only about eight of them were involved in the violence.

After being injured, Mr Shafiq was taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital where he underwent surgery. He regained consciousness long enough to tell his wife, Shaugufta, 47: “Pray for me that I will pull through.” But he died at about 9pm.

In a former mill town that has suffered race riots in the past, senior police officers were anxious to dispel any suggestion that the killing was racially motivated. Their investigation suggests that those in the park were Punjabi speakers.

Officers spent much of the day draining the boating lake in the hunt for the weapon used to kill Mr Shafiq while forensic science experts worked on a grassy bank near by.

Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell, senior officer in charge of investigations at Lancashire Police, said: “There is absolutely no indication that this was racially motivated. It would appear young people from the same cultural background fell out over a very minor thing.

“Mr Shafiq’s family is devastated at what has happened. We are trying our best to provide what support we can.”

Mr Shafiq, who came to East Lancashire as a child and worked as a plumbing contractor, was described as a “happy soul, a wonderful man” who got on with everybody. Shokat Malik, 42, a friend of the family, said that Mr Shafiq had tried to protect his son. He said: “We know he received a phone call from his son, who said he was getting bullied by a large group of youths and there was only a couple of them. His father rang the police and said, ‘I am on my way over there’, and when he got there he was set upon. He would not have gone in gung-ho. He walked in totally unarmed to quell the situation as a peacemaker. But whoever was there had other thoughts.”

Lancashire Police said that four people — three aged 17, two aged 19 and one aged 20 — had been arrested on suspicion of murder. Another teenager has been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder.

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