Unprovoked hammer attack on teenager, 16, in Ashgrove, Greengates (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Angry father accuses police of ‘lack of urgency’ dealing with case

12:00pm Saturday 4th August 2012 in Bradford By Kathie Griffiths, T&A Reporter

A teenager has suffered a harrowing hammer attack just yards from his home.

Macaulay Hunt, 16, was at the end of his street in Ashgrove, Greengates , when he was subjected to the brutal attack by an unknown man.

He was left bleeding badly from head wounds, including a hammer indent on his skull.

His attacker fled after Macaulay grappled him to the ground and neighbours ran to help.

The incident happened at about 11pm on Monday.

His father David Hunt said: “Macaulay was waiting to collect his sister who was being dropped off by a friend when he saw this man come across the car park near the Nat West bank.

“He was ranting about a burglary and yelling ‘you did it’. He saw the man pull a hammer out of his jacket and his instinct was to turn and run but he tripped up and the man jumped on top of him, raining blows on him with the hammer.

“Macaulay’s a big lad. He managed to grapple the man to the floor, the man said ‘you’re coming with me’ but then his sister arrived and started screaming and he ran off.”

Neighbours came to help and police and paramedics were called. Macaulay was kept in overnight at Bradford Royal Infirmary for a gash on his forehead stitching and a hole the size of a hammer-head treated on the top of his skull. He also had other cuts and grazes.

Mr Hunt said: “My son’s only been living there for two weeks. He’s a good lad, there’s no problems with anyone. He’s about to start a plumbing apprenticeship – all he was doing was waiting for his little sister to get her home safely.”

Police are investigating the incident as an assault but have also confirmed receiving an official complaint from Mr Hunt about how they initially handled his son’s case.

“When I got to him, he was covered in blood, his mum and a neighbour who’s a nurse were trying to soak it up with towels and he was being sick in a bucket,” said Mr Hunt.

But he said as well as the shock of his son’s attack, the family were stunned by how the police dealt with the situation.

He claimed they first asked his son if he had a criminal record, did not take names and numbers of people in the street at the time, did not carry out an immediate search of the area and then failed to turn up for an arranged interview to take a further statement.

“There was someone on the loose with a hammer potentially putting other people at risk and all they wanted to know was – did my son have a criminal record – which he doesn’t!

“When I went to the station to lodge the official complaint I overheard the sergeant describing me over the phone as an irate man. I wasn’t irate, I was an emotional parent frustrated about the police’s lack of urgency to find who did this and to keep us updated. Any parent would have felt the same.”