A MAN suffered a terrifying attack at the hands of a gang of robbers armed with a knife as he walked through a park.
Today I’d like your help in identifying one of the gang from the e-fit image produced on the basis of the victim’s description.
The incident happened at about 5.30pm on Monday March 7.
The 35-year-old man was walking through Greenhead Park when he became aware of a group of several youths moving towards him.
He walked in a different direction to try to avoid them, but felt a sudden blow to his back which sent him flying to the ground.
As the group surrounded him, he managed to get up and run a short distance, but was chased and caught and knocked to the ground again.
Two of the gang then threatened him with a knife and he handed over his white Nokia 5230 mobile phone.
The gang member who is pictured was described as Asian or Arabic, aged 15 or 16 and about 5ft 7ins tall and skinny.
He was wearing dark clothing with an Adidas logo on the top and dark trainers.
There was another slim Asian teenager with a dark grey zip-up top and a black teenager who was wearing a black zip-up waterproof top with white writing on the back.
One of the others was white, aged about 16, of average build and wearing a hooded top with blue stripes, blue trousers and white trainers.
He was the one carrying the weapon, a white-handled folding knife which had blue tape around the handle and a three-inch blade.
In total there were seven gang-members. The others were all dark-skinned and about the same age.
Thankfully, the victim was not seriously injured, but these offenders clearly had no regard for the consequences of their actions.
They were very cowardly and heavily outnumbered the victim.
I have no doubt that they were local and, given the opportunity, will continue to commit similar offences if they are not brought to justice.
If anyone recognises the e-fit picture or the descriptions given by the victim, please contact police on 0845 6060606 or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555111.
Many robberies are preventable if people take precautionary steps:
Make sure you don’t walk down isolated footpaths on your own, particularly at night.
At all times, try to stick to well lit and populated footpaths and don’t walk around with your iPhone, laptop or jewellery on display.
Where possible try to remain with a group of friends and don’t get isolated when walking home.
Advice like this might seem obvious, but it is surprising how many people fail to take basic personal security measures which can make all the difference.
