UK NEWS

GIRL GANG BEATS UP HELPLESS EX-SOLDIER

A merciless girl gang savagely attacked Mr Orford

Tuesday July 1,2008

By Chris Riches

A DISABLED ex-soldier has been savagely attacked by a gang of teenage girls in yet another example of feral yob Britain.

Parkinson’s sufferer Steven Orford, 52, was pounced on by an 18-strong mob in broad daylight in St Helens, Merseyside.

The girls aged 14 and 15, wearing tracksuits and heavy boots, punched their victim to the floor, then rained blows and kicks on his head.

Mr Orford, who suffered a broken arm and needed facial surgery, said yesterday: “I am more frightened of what can happen on our streets than I ever was while I was a soldier.”

He added: “I have very little strength, yet these brutes attacked me as if they were playing a game in the park.

“They laughed and joked when one of them punched me to the floor, and when I tried to get up they just kept kicking me and stamping on my head. I couldn’t hurt a fly if I tried. To think that girls can do that to a defenceless man is absolutely sickening.

I have very little strength, yet these brutes attacked me as if they were playing a game in the park.

Steven Orford

“I have to question what this world is coming to when things like this happen. It was terrifying. Before this attack I’d go and get groceries or the paper from the shop but now I’m too scared to leave the house.”

Mr Orford, who served in the Army for 10 years, said: “Yobs are ruling the streets. They’re intimidating and terrifying innocent people. Smoking, drinking, doing drugs, causing trouble, fighting among themselves and attacking others, often for nothing – the list is endless.

“We saw what happened with Garry Newlove when he tried to confront a pack of yobs, and I have to say we could well see a similar tragedy round here. Someone will get killed if this yob culture and thuggery aren’t stopped,” he added.

Merseyside Police said yesterday: “This was a totally unprovoked and vicious attack. The victim was quietly going about his business when he was set upon for no apparent reason.”

Father-of-three Garry Newlove was beaten to death when he confronted a gang of teenagers about vandalising his wife’s car in Warrington, Cheshire, last August.