Harding son stabbed in fight

The son of the late Chelsea football tycoon Matthew Harding has been stabbed during a fight involving 16 people, police said today.

Plumber Luke Harding, 20, was knifed four times and had to be treated in hospital for "superficial wounds to the chest and back" after the attack at Brighton Pier. He was later allowed to return to his family's £1million home.

Six others were injured during the fight at 2.30am on Sunday, one suffering a punctured lung. Two men are still in hospital but their condition is not thought to be life threatening.

Mr Harding and his friends are believed to have got into an argument with 10 men in a minibus from Sheerness and Sittingbourne in Kent after asking them for a lift. All the men were arrested and bailed until January.

Following the incident police sealed off the pier to search for knives and other weapons. Officers are also examining CCTV footage.

This time last year Mr Harding escaped jail for a racist attack after a court heard he was traumatised by his father's death. He was convicted of hurling a beer can at an Asian woman and making racist remarks to another Asian couple.

The Chelsea vice chairman, worth £170 million, died with four others in a helicopter crash returning home from an away Coca Cola Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers in 1996.