Swindon Link editor Jamie Hill reflects on violent street robbery that could have killed him

Swindon Link editor Jamie Hill is recovering after being targeted in a violent street robbery in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to police, he was one of four victims targeted by a gang of youths wielding a snooker ball in a sock. In his frank reflection of the events of that evening, he speaks honestly about his reaction to what happened that night, how he is struggling to come to terms with the lasting impact of such a violent assault and his thoughts about those who perpetrated the crime.

Readers are advised that this report contains strong language.

‘They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but lying on a hospital bed with a mashed up face only hours after being pummelled unconscious by an assailant wielding a snooker ball in a sock, I felt weaker than I’ve ever felt.

The next 48 hours were punctuated by an irrational need to just burst into tears. I felt broken physically and emotionally.

I can still hardly see out of my swollen right eye. To write this I have the screen zoomed in as closely as possible and I have to keep taking breaks as the pain of focussing on the words gets too much. They look blurry even now as I look at the screen.

It had started out as a normal Saturday night. At around 9.30pm I met some friends for a birthday celebration at The Tuppenny in Old Town. We then moved on to Baila followed by The Vic.

I must admit I was drunk. Not too drunk but tipsy/happy drunk. I left my friends at around 2.15am on Sunday morning.

Then, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to go to Suju nightclub. According to my bank I paid for my entry ticket for the club at 2.28am.

I queued for a gin and tonic for about 10 minutes and then once I received my drink I took a look around the upstairs and the downstairs of the club. I wasn’t too drunk at this point and it soon became apparent that being an overweight 43 year old man, I stood out like a sore thumb as I was 20 years older than anyone else. So I decided to sheepishly leave. I must have been at the night club for 20 minutes, 25 minutes at the most.

Outside there were a few taxis but having spied both Dominos and a kebab house opposite  I decided I would get a bite to eat before making my way home.

And this is where I was stupid. I used to be a smoker but now I vape so I decided to take a little walk to clear my head and have a vape before getting food.

I walked across the road and went down the path on Charlotte Mews that leads to the Lawns park area.

I just wanted to be away from the crowds to have a think. I do that a lot.

At the end of the path as you enter the park suddenly there’s no street lighting.

As I entered and turned to the right and walked only a few feet into the park I thought I saw what looked like a couple canoodling lying down by a tree stump. I walked straight past not wishing to disturb them.

In my peripheral vision, as I walked past, I saw them both silently stand up and start walking towards me.

As I turned around I was struck by something very hard in the face. It hit me in the eye area, leaving me stunned.

The boy, and he was a boy not much older than my teenage son, was swinging something around his head like a medieval mace.

Almost conversationally I said “What the fuck?” I was still standing looking right at him.

He then hit me again. In the face.

This time I started to back away. The pain was intense but I was still standing.

He said: “Give me your wallet.”

Already it was all a blur. It was very dark and I could hardly see.

I told him “No, fuck off!”

He then hit me again with the cosh in the face.

Still upright I started to try and get back to the path that would take me to the high street but his friend, another young boy, was blocking my way.

The original assailant then said: “Give me your wallet or I’ll use a knife.”

I kicked out at the second attacker who was blocking my way but just hit empty air. By this point I think I was already dazed. I said again: “No, fuck off”

The next thing I knew was coming to lying on the pavement. There was no-one around me. I had no idea how long I had been lying there. My glasses had gone and so had my vape, probably gone flying during the assault. It must have been the fourth hit with the cosh that knocked me out.

I gingerly got up. None of it seemed real. I walked towards the high street. I wasn’t walking straight.

I checked my pockets. My phone was still there and my house keys and even the change in my pocket but my wallet was gone.

Upon entering the high street I approached the first person I found – a taxi driver parked by the side of the road. There were lots of people around. I tried to explain to the taxi driver but he looked scared and said he couldn’t help. I don’t blame him in hindsight, I must have looked a state. I couldn’t walk straight and I had blood covering my face.

Luckily there was a police car parked behind him and I went to them.

They were brilliant. They sat me down, ordered an ambulance and tried to get some sense from me. I felt stupid when I told them I was attacked by what I thought was a snooker ball in a sock.

The next few hours were a daze. All I can say is that all the police officers, the paramedics and the hospital nurses were fantastic.

You can trace the four strikes from the cosh on my face. My eye was the worst. But there was also a massive cut on my forehead (which I think might have been the final blow that knocked me out but I can’t be sure) and a huge swelling on my jaw and my right cheekbone.

Very luckily after being checked out and X-rayed and poked and prodded it showed that there had been no permanent damage.

All I wanted in the aftermath was to see my family. To hug my kids. I think I realised how lucky I had been and how much worse the injuries could have been. It could have easily have resulted in me losing my eyesight or even my life.

It’s only in the past couple of days and talking to the police that the night’s spree by the gang with the cosh has been put together. There were four of them in total and there were four attacks, including mine, with each victim being assaulted in the same way - with the snooker ball in a sock.

Each attack was in a different area of Swindon. I only saw two attackers but it was dark and there could have easily been two more in the background somewhere.

When I talk to people about it they are rightly angry with the young men who carried out these attacks. Calling them feral animals and much worse.

I know they need to be caught. They can’t continue to do this as someone is more than likely to get a lot more seriously hurt or even killed. They need to be stopped.

But... I’m not angry with them. I simply want to understand what led them to do this. They didn’t end up getting anything of value from me as my cards were instantly cancelled so they pummelled a man unconscious for nothing.

I want to know how they are able to dehumanise their victims to such an extent that they would do this to someone and not feel guilt for the potential consequences to another human being.

I know I’ll never get those answers. Maybe they feel disenfranchised. Maybe they’re from broken homes. Maybe they have serious drug problems. Maybe it’s a gang thing where guilt is diluted by a group action. Whatever it is I would like to know but I know I never will.

The police are currently investigating and are trying to track them by CCTV. I’m sure they will catch them. Let’s just hope it’s before they carry out another planned attack.

On another note the police have assured me that this type of stranger attack is very unusual in Swindon and that usually any violence they deal with at weekends are to do with altercations involving alcohol or drugs. Swindon is a safe town still but I definitely won’t be wandering into any badly lit areas late at night again.

I’m still struggling to process how this will affect me in the long term emotionally and psychologically but for now I just know I’m lucky it wasn’t much more serious.

Anyone with information, including dash-cam or mobile phone footage of the incidents, should contact DS Anger on 101, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.