Victims tell of thug attacks
A father-of-three was punched to the ground by youths and a pensioner was left with a broken knee cap and fractures to her shoulder during two separate attacks in their own Black Country streets.
Both victims have been left shattered after the vicious assaults, which happened yards from their homes. Robert Gadsden was punched to the ground when he went to confront the yobs after coming to end of his tether with anti-social behaviour on Tuesday night.
And three days earlier, 75-year-old Sheila Woodhouse was thrown to the floor after being robbed by two masked men.
Mr Gadsden's concerned daughter Amiee, aged 24, called police to warn officers someone was "about to get hurt" – but by the time she came off the phone, her father was lying stricken in the middle of Caswell Road, Sedgley.
The 61-year-old was taken to Russells Hall Hospital with facial injuries. Mr Gadsden says the youths who attacked him have been riling residents for months, congregating near homes, firing footballs at windows and shouting abuse.
"He shoved me and I shoved him back and then bang, it was lights out.
"It was a little while before I calmed down, I was still shaking when I got back from the hospital."
Stable worker Miss Gadsden says the latest attack has left her "fuming".
"As he picked his keys up I phoned 999 and told them somebody was about to get hurt. As I put the phone down and walked out into the garden I saw a lady picking my dad up from in the middle of the road," she said.
Hundreds of pounds worth of possessions and sentimental items including a prized five-carat ring and a letter from her late-partner were snatched from Mrs Woodhouse.
She was knocked to the ground by a balaclava-wearing thug in Darlaston, who grabbed her handbag and shopping bag before making off in a get-away car. The pensioner, who had her purse, jewellery and passport taken has been left traumatised by the attack. The mother-of-two had just got a taxi back to the street at around 10.35am on Saturday. Disabled Mrs Woodhouse, whose partner Kenneth Gretton MBE died two-and-a-half years ago, is now appealing for anyone who may have information to contact police.
The attacker is described as white and was driven away by a second man, also wearing a balaclava, in a silver two-door car in the direction of Wolverhampton Street. "He just grabbed my bags, swung me around and knocked my legs from underneath me. I remember being knocked to the floor and being in a lot of pain," she said. "I am still in pain and don't know if I have got to have an operation. Whoever has done this to me is an animal and I would like to see them locked up.
Anyone with information about the incident in Darlaston is urged to DC Deb Dace or DC Kate Tomkins on 01922 439177. For the incident in Sedgeley call Brierley Hill police station on 0845 113 5000.
