Friend attacked in London

Ladyhawk

I've lived in London for 12 years and never had a problem and never seen anything that I had to "walk on by" (Famous last words) and I have lived in some rough areas. I have been assaulted twice... Once by a housemate and one is genteel St Albans. Very rarely have I felt unsafe walking around London.

My ex who was 6'4, black belt in nin-jitsu, former bouncer was mugged though by a thug stamping on his ankle to break it.

zaxdog

Born and brought up in a city and never been mugged/assaulted/victim of crime and neither has any one of my friends.

BUT on a visit to London at 18 as I sat chatting to a mate who had come to the dump to study I was punched for being "One of them Scotch" :eek:

trying not to judge a place by that, or the foul smell, dirty streets, poor homeless souls huddled in doorways I visited again only to have someone attempt to pick my pocket :rotfl:

barbarawright

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

Whereabouts by Temple was the attack?

Over a decade ago I worked just up from Temple at Anderson Consulting and they would have had CCTV on their doors. Is there any chance the CCTV in the buildings around there picked it up?

Another caution to all not to walk around on their own no matter how huge or male they might be.

I say it all the time to my husband when he comes back late from London, but men seem to think they are safe.

Sadly it's that sort of attitude (similar to the 'not letting your children go to school on their own until they're 14' brigade) that makes it easier for muggers because there are far fewer people on the streets than when I was growing up. I live on my own in London and don't have a car - should I behave as if I was in Saudi Arabia and ask a male friend to accompany me at all times? Or get a taxi 5 miles from central London every night? :rotfl:

BAGGY

He needs to have his injuries recorded (photos) and a visit to GP in case the police take the case to court.

Lara44

I'm a Londoner who stops to help people! As a 5'3" lady I can't say I'd intervene in a fight, but would surely call the cops immediately, plus comfort and help any victim to get medical attention.

peachyprice

Nicki wrote: »

Temple is not a residential area though. It is right in the heart of the legal quarter, so most of the buildings are either barristers chambers, which are closed at the weekend, or shops or offices which are also closed, or the Royal Courts of Justice (guess what, closed too) so I would not really expect there to be any/many people around at the weekend. Even though it is in central London, depending on exactly which street it happened on and the time of day it is perfectly possible that no one walked or drove down that street during the attack or afterwards. If it happened on the Sunday even more likely that this is the case.

My thoughts exactly, it's highly unlikely that, in Temple, he was by passed by many, if any, people, it would have been dead outside of business hours.

bargainbetty

I'm really sorry for your friend, it is a horrible thing to have happened. However, I've lived and worked in London all my adult life. I've had my bag stolen precisely once in 38 years, and a few of the homeless lads at Waterloo station saw I was upset and went looking for it for me!

I will always stop for people in need, and have been fortunate enough to receive help when I've been taken ill. There are many Londoners who are willing to stop and help, and it's a shame that none of them were there. However, please don't tar us all with the same brush.

The police are being realistic. Unless the phone had one of those tracker things in it and your mate activated it, there is very little chance of it being recovered, or the person who did it being caught.

Temple is a rather nice area. Lots of rich barristers wandering around. Cash in their pockets, expensive watches, phones etc. Where would you go on the rob if you were a mugger? I work at Lincoln's Inn, and we have had a few incidents where people have had their phones snatched out of their hands by kids on bikes. You have to be aware of your surroundings, sadly, but that is true of any large city.

Welshwoofs

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

Another caution to all not to walk around on their own no matter how huge or male they might be..

That's just not practical or even possible in many cases. You work late, you go home on the tube...how do you get from the tube to your front door?

I'd also add that I was attacked once in all the years I lived in London and it was whilst I was walking with a friend through a packed Covent Garden in broad daylight! All of a sudden I had a massive yank to my (long) hair from behind and I crashed over backwards to the floor. It was all over in a few seconds, I didn't even see get to see who did it. Nothing had been taken from me - it simply seemed to be a random, senseless attack that left me a bit shaken, bruised and with a huge hank of hair torn from my scalp.

To the Op - if I were you I'd encourage your friend to see a doctor and get his head checked out. On the point of people not stopping to help - well at Temple over the weekend there's not likely to be many people around but I do agree with the general issue that in many cases these days, and not just in London, people would rather keep on walking than risk either being dragged into trouble or being accused of anything 'untoward'...which is sad.

claire16c

zaxdog wrote: »

Born and brought up in a city and never been mugged/assaulted/victim of crime and neither has any one of my friends.

BUT on a visit to London at 18 as I sat chatting to a mate who had come to the dump to study I was punched for being "One of them Scotch" :eek:

trying not to judge a place by that, or the foul smell, dirty streets, poor homeless souls huddled in doorways I visited again only to have someone attempt to pick my pocket :rotfl:

I'd never had anything bad happen to me when I worked in London, but when I lived in Manchester I saw lots more crime going on as I walked about including prostitutes hanging about, drug deals, one girl i lived with at uni saw a guy pull a gun on someone! Another girl was mugged in broad day light walking back to our flat by a main road.

Doesn't mean that I think Manchester is bad & London is all good. Most cities are dirty in parts because there are so many people living in them.

Nicki

I was thinking about Counting Pennies post again this morning as I dropped my son at nursery and then travelled (on my own) by public transport to Liverpool Street for a dental appointment, and watched all the other people who live and/or work in London, who were mostly going about their business on their own too.

I actually think it is really sad (and very unhealthy) that anyone wherever they live would even consider locking themselves in at home and not go out unless they always have someone with them. And I would be profoundly upset and frustrated too if a partner or parent tried to impose that kind of restriction on me too. I am sure when CP tells her OH that he is not to walk around on his own in London that he just mentally rolls his eyes and ignores her, but it is still not a very fair thing to say to anyone else.