Yobs attack couple with hail of stones
9:47am Monday 21st July 2008
Comments (11)TEENAGE yobs pelted a couple with stones as they sat down to enjoy a barbecue on Weymouth Beach.
Burt Hilton and his wife June say they now no longer want to use their £240 a year hut for fear of further attacks.
Retired warehouse manager Mr Hilton said one of the stones, weighing half a pound, struck him on the chest and narrowly missed June's head.
Mr Hilton, 74, of Preston, Weymouth, said he and June were sitting two huts down on the seafront from a group of teenagers when the trouble began.
He said: "June and I had just got down to the beach with a disposable barbecue and some food.
"We had just started cooking when these stones started pinging off our hut.
"I was sat out by a windbreaker and one of these two stones, which weigh a good half a pound each, flew over and struck me with a fair bit of force on the chest.
"Looking back on it, the scariest thing is that June was sitting between me and them at the time.
"The trajectory of that rock could have hit her in the head, and I dread to think what that could have caused."
Mr Hilton said he confronted the youths but quickly realised he could be in trouble if the situation worsened.
He said: "I'm a fairly big bloke.
"I'm a good 6'2'' and about 16-stone, but the problem is I'm almost 75.
"If that group had decided to set about me I wouldn't have stood a chance."
Mr Hilton said he returned to his wife only to be subjected to another salvo of stones, at which point he called 999.
He added: "I was on the phone to the police from inside the hut and the girl on the other end said she could hear the stones hitting it. An officer came down later but the group had gone."
Mr Hilton said the incident was very scary' and that he and his wife no longer want to use the hut.
A spokesman for Dorset Police confirmed an officer attended and made a search of the area after Mr Hilton's call, but that the suspects had disappeared.
Your Say YourDorset Echo
techie, Weymouth says...
10:59am Mon 21 Jul 08
Pointless calling the police, they never arrive until 'later' once whomever has gone. It's like they don't want to deal with incidents that are in the process of taking place.
Or they simply can't be everywhere at once.
Wykeite, Weymouth says...
11:44am Mon 21 Jul 08
Again our taxes are being wasted on a police force that does not turn up in time and a CCTV network that is not used.
Jeepster, Weymouth says...
11:47am Mon 21 Jul 08
dunketh, Portland says...
2:57pm Mon 21 Jul 08
A through beating would have sorted the problem, if the whiney little yobs had the cheek to complain to the police themselves there'd be plenty of witnesses to it never happening.
Fabian, Weymouth says...
2:58pm Mon 21 Jul 08
Ask Archie, Weymouth says...
3:43pm Mon 21 Jul 08
59am todayI think Techie was probably right.
Pointless calling the police, they never arrive until 'later' once whomever has gone. It's like they don't want to deal with incidents that are in the process of taking place.Or they simply can't be everywhere at once.
Pointless calling the police, they
Gladys, Weymouth says...
8:35pm Mon 21 Jul 08
Perhaps a vigilante group should be set up to protect innocent people from thuggery.
pachyderm, says...
9:12pm Mon 21 Jul 08
Gladys wrote:I keep an axe in my garden shed just in case we get gate crashers at the BBQ.
Young people carry knives in order to protect themselves, as the police never turn up until all risk of confronting yobs is safely over. Mr. Hilton should do the same. Perhaps a vigilante group should be set up to protect innocent people from thuggery.
This must be working because it's never happened yet.
P.S.
When you form your vigilante group, can I bring my big chopper?
LEC, Dorchester says...
8:53am Tue 22 Jul 08
Gladys wrote:Gladys, I do sincerely hope your tongue is firmly wedged in your cheek...
Young people carry knives in order to protect themselves, as the police never turn up until all risk of confronting yobs is safely over. Mr. Hilton should do the same. Perhaps a vigilante group should be set up to protect innocent people from thuggery.
local resident, weymouth says...
11:10am Sun 27 Jul 08
Burt Hilton shows the stones that were thrown at him and his wife June while they were having a barbecue on the beach at Weymouth
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Atalanta, says...
10:02am Mon 21 Jul 08
Pointless calling the police, they never arrive until 'later' once whomever has gone. It's like they don't want to deal with incidents that are in the process of taking place.
Don't let it put you off using your hut Mr Hilton, there are many more decent young people than there are thugs.