RAF veteran battered by gang of youths in front of son after asking them to stop lighting fires
Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
An RAF veteran was left with serious injuries after he was beaten by a group of teenagers for verbally abusing a woman and setting fires in a park.
Martin Smith, 45, was battered in front of his terrified son, aged eight, after he confronted the 30-strong mob for harassing the woman.
Two teens attacked the former RAF air traffic controller with a 2ft long tree branch and punched and kicked him when he threatened to record footage of them.
Mr Smith suffered cracked ribs and a black eye, and has told of the traumatising incident as police hunt the assailants.
(Photo: Portsmouth News/Solent News & Photo Agency)
He said the group was verbally abusing the woman and setting fire to aerosol cans when he encountered them in a park in Stubbington, near Fareham, Hampshire.
Mr Smith, of Stubbington, said the boys assaulted him after he told them he was going to record them on his mobile phone.
He said: "One of them got emboldened and said 'what you going to do about it?' I said 'what I'm going to do is take my camera out and film it'.
"I heard a commotion and there was this lad, 6ft 1ins, with a big 2ft stick, a big branch. He does this little weird spin round and knocked the phone off my hand."
Mr Smith said he tried to pick up this phone but the teen took a "two-handed swing" with the stick and hit him in his rib cage, cracking a couple of ribs.
(Photo: Google Maps)
He said he was able to disarm the teen and was attempting to restrain him when he was attacked by the second boy.
Mr Smith said: "The bigger lad then started to punch me and kicked me in the face.
"At that point my son was still screaming his head off. It was really scary."
Mr Smith also said he pushed one of the teens away and shouted for his son to run, but tripped as he tried to escape and an attacker again tried to kick him in the head.
He said the teens were brazen and added his son has been left 'traumatised' by the incident.
A Hampshire Police spokesman confirmed that an investigation is underway.