A MAN is fighting for his life in hospital after being discovered with serious head injuries.

And today, a 39-year-old man is being quizzed at Blackwood police station after being arrested in connection with the incident.

Police say the injured 34-year-old man, from Pontllanfraith, was admitted to the Royal Gwent Hospital on Tuesday evening.

The hospital contacted officers at 4am yesterday after his health deteriorated.

The man, named locally as David Dando, has now been transferred to the University of Wales Hospital, Cardiff, where he is in a critical but stable condition. Around 20 police officers are investigating the incident and, yesterday, forensics searched the scene for clues.

"Officers are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding his admission to hospital, his whereabouts earlier in the day and possible causes of his injuries," said a police spokesman.

Neighbours say a group of teenagers found the man, believed to be unemployed, at about 5pm on Tuesday. He was discovered at the bottom of an outdoor flight of steps behind his flat in Fleur-de-Lys Avenue, on the Penllwyn Estate.

One of the boys said: "He was lying covered in blood." One neighbour, who went to school with the man and has known him since childhood, said: "He is not the kind of man you would expect this to happen to. He never bothered anybody.

"Only a few years ago he was recovering from testicular cancer and was lucky to make it."

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "The ambulance turned up at 5pm last night and took him away. Two paramedics carried him out and he was covered in blood.

"He is a nice man who wouldn't bother anybody. He lives alone now, but he used to be married." Police are appealing for information. Phone 01633 838111.