Hi, not football related (mods feel free to move) appeal for help: My wife (also a ST holder) was assaulted in an unprovoked attack or attempted mugging this afternoon at Church St carpark at approx 1620hrs as she left the car park at the New Street exit. She was punched in face and thrown to ground. She needed stitches and treatment at Watford General. With thanks to the family who stopped to help and to the two young lads who gave chase. The assailant escaped empty handed through the multi-storey car-park towards the ring-road. Any witnesses or information gratefully received, or pass directly to Watford police. Thanks.
Sorry to hear about that. I can imagine that’ll shake her up for a while - I’d thoroughly recommend Victim Support as an avenue for a friendly non-judgemental chat about things once her physical injuries heal. Any ideas what the assailant was after?
Very sorry to hear this. Hope your wife is ok and that someone is able to help with some information.
Hi All, thanks for kind comments. Yes, this is shocking, not just at a personal level, but you just don't expect this sort of thing in Watford in the middle of the day. Nothing was taken - I suspect he thought that she was carrying a phone, purse, handbag etc, either that or it was just a random assault? The assailant was: white male; 5'8-5'10"; 25-30; scruffy, dishevelled appearance; dark hair. He may have been one of the beggar crowd, itinerants, that you see in town - she thinks she might have seen hm before asking for money outside shops, but not 100%
Not residing in Watford any longer but very sorry to hear this. Hope her injuries aren’t too serious and would echo UEA’s sentiments entirely in regards to aftercare/victim support.
Disgusting the way some people treat each other. Hope she recovers and continues to be strong. Agree om getting some sort of justice for her too. Keep asking for updates on any legal investigation you enter in regards to justice too, some organizations have a habit of forgetting a case - so make sure you stay in the loop. All the best to the both of you in this troubled time.
That's awful for both of you. Hope you're ok. Is there CCTV? The town centre must have almost 100% coverage.
Hopefully there will be some cctv because of New Street. These wouldn't be installed for the protection of the car park users' or their property but for CitiPark's payment machines. I really hope she recovers fully from this traumatic experience.
FFS. What is a distressing read pales into insignificance to what your wife has gone through neraksarrab. I truly hope scars both physical & mental heal quickly and you receive all the help needed.
Yeah, apparently there's CCTV (confirm by Herts police), however I suspect that a "regular mugging or assault" is pretty low down on police priorities given the pressure they're under and other priorities.
So sorry to hear that, I hope your wife recovers quickly, CCTV is probably your best bet, however unfortunately it didn’t put the assailant doing it in the first place! I’m not local but WFC have a help line should you need anything, I’m no sure of the tel no but suggest you contact the ticket office firstly, should you wish to go down the route!
The Church Street Car Park website says there is CCTV, security patrols and a help cabin, (I presume that's the information button on the pay stations). There is also a live chat feature that seems to have real people replying. Try there first. There is definitely a homeless issue there as a friend who runs a business very close to there says things got out of hand when the local Travelodge filled was up with homeless during the last lockdown. He said there was trouble several times a day. I hope your wife is OK both physically and emotionally. I also hope they catch the f***ing coward.
Thanks to all for the kind words. Edit to the original post: my mrs has since recalled that she was carrying x2 empty shopping bags (bags for life type - she was heading to M&S to grab a few bits for sat night). It appears that this was probably a mugging/street robbery offence. Ordinarily she would put purse/phone etc in the bags, due to weather she had large coat on. Small mercies and all that.
Sorry to hear this, I hope the injuries heal and your wife is able to put it behind her once they have. Catching the fecker would be a good start.
FWIW it might be useful approaching the cab companies whose drivers use the rank there. Their security cameras/dash cams may have caught something in New Road.
Get Kenny from "Vera" onto it...."I'll get straight onto it" is his most common line. In all seriousness, I hope that you can manage to keep onto it enough to ensure the police do follow it up. The next person may come off worse & your wife's experience has been bad enough.
Do you have details of the investigating officer? My experience is a crime like this should be dealt with as a robbery - some forces will have a robbery team or have CID investigate it with a detective leading. Other forces might only have beat cops doing it. It's a bit of a postcode lottery all told. Anyway, if it's the latter, I'd say there would be no harm at all in doing your own leg work to see if there's any evidence out there. Did the guys who helped give statements do you know?
Sorry to hear this neraksarrab. I hope your wife is recovering psychologically as well as physically and the piece of **** who did it is caught.
It was a uniformed officer who took the statement - no contact with Herts police since - will chase in the week. Yes, the other witnesses gave statements too. I think the thing that has shocked us most that this happened in the town centre in middle of day (well, just as light was fading).
This hasn't happened in vain. My wife and daughters will not be using this car park again if they're on their own and are spreading the word about what happened to other friends & family.
If you get little or no interest, it might be worth having a word with the Watford Observer. It's far from ideal, but a bit of publicity might get it taken more seriously.