Car-jacking victim, 85, one year on: There's no closure to my attack nightmare
There is no closure to the nightmare' – these are the words of 85-year-old car-jacking victim Mike Green one year on from the terrifying attack that left him lying in a pub car park, beaten and bloody.
Mr Green has spoken publicly for the first time about the brutal assault attack 12 months ago.
The renowned big band musician, was leaving the Trumpet Pub, Bilston, just after 11pm on April 11 last year when he was set upon by a group of thugs.
Asked how he felt knowing his attackers had not been caught, he told the Express & Star: "Very disappointed because it is a loose end, isn't it? That's how I see it, there is no closure."
A regular at the pub for years, Mr Green enjoyed the live music and meeting up with friends a few times a week.
Photos from his days as a jazz and big band drummer can be seen behind the bar – he even has his own seat there – documenting a career that saw him play regular shows at Wolverhampton's Civic. As an arranger, his music has been played at the Royal Albert Hall in London and throughout the country.
On the night of the attack he got into his 15-year-old Toyota Avensis preparing to make his way to his Wolverhampton home, but before he could start the engine a gang of up to eight thugs – at least one wearing a rubber horror mask – set upon him, dragging him to the ground.
After repeatedly kicking and punching the father of three, one of the attackers hit him over the head with a plastic bag containing what was believed to be a spanner, before driving off in his car.
Mr Green said: "I thought afterwards to myself probably what I should have done was let them have the keys, it was instinct to hold them, I wasn't thinking rationally at all.
"It was all a bit like a dream. Well obviously it was a nightmare."
Describing the attackers as 'animals' Sylvia Thompson, his partner of 30 years, said the past year had been 'really, really hard work'. She said: "He is not my Mike that he was a year ago.
Mr Green added: "Let's face it, it could have been murder, quite easily. You can't take on an old guy of 84 and knock him around like that, there is a risk there." Police found Mr Green's crashed car just off Ettingshall Road, and it was written off by the insurance company.
In the weeks after his surgery he went through physio and had modifications made to his house – he could not get up the stairs at first so had to sleep on the ground floor.
Rails have now been installed so he can get himself up and down the stairs, but he still struggles. He still goes for a walk with Sylvia a few times a week, although they usually only make it a few houses along before they have to turn back. He is still unable to dress himself.
And it is not just physical injuries he has battled since the attack.
"There has been a definite change, my memory seems to have gone since it happened, I can't remember things that happened just a few minutes ago. It has affected me mentally, purely and simply because I have got a lack of confidence now. A complete lack of confidence."
The couple used to make a yearly trip to the United States to visit his musician friends, renting a car and comfortably driving around, but since the attack he has been unable to make the trip, and does not believe he will be able to again.
He still visits the Trumpet pub and the staff insist on walking him to his car and seeing him safely away at the end of each night.
Son Bill Green, aged 52, said the family made a point of taking him back to the pub after the attack so he could see his friends and witness the depth of feeling and support within the community. "I don't know what I would have done without my family, they have been brilliant," said Mr Green. Describing it as a 'cowardly and unprovoked' attack, Bill said: "Clearly a year on it has affected my dad profoundly."
Mr Green said: "Various members of the public who I see from time to time ask what is happening, and when I tell them nothing has happened they can't believe that in this day and age people can do that and get away with it."
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said a 15-year-old male arrested last April in connection with the attack was released without charge.
West Midlands Police spokeswoman Deb Edmonds said they had exhausted all lines of inquiry, but if any new information came to light they would look into it. Call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 to help.
