A TEENAGER has told of his gang attack terror after he walked two frightened girls home from a Portland party.

Weymouth College student Stuart Purnell was punched, kicked and spat on during two unprovoked assaults, first by three youths and then by one.

He suffered a punctured eyelid, cracked jaw and a cut that required three stitches down his forehead in the attacks, which occurred after he walked the girls past a gang of teenagers.

Doctors said that he was lucky not to have been blinded.

Stuart, 17, of Wyke Regis, had been at a party in the area known as ‘ghost tunnels’ at the High Angle Battery prior to the incident, which happened along a footpath near the Young Offender Institution.

He said: “I walked these girls past the group of teenage boys, it didn’t feel right leaving them on their own.

“I was going to walk straight back but I got surrounded by three lads, one took a swing at me and cracked my jaw.

“They were asking what my name was and who I was with, I told them I wasn’t with any gang and didn’t want trouble.

“I got knocked to the floor and they kicked me in the stomach and spat on me.

“I carried on walking because I wanted to go back to the party and get my mobile phone from my friend, then another lad approached me and asked the same questions.

“I turned away and as I turned back someone punched me in the eye, I fell to the ground again and they punched me again until someone pulled them off.”

Stuart, who cannot eat solid foods for a week because of his injured jaw, was told by doctors that his second assailant must have worn ‘a ring or a knuckle duster’ to create the eye injury and he was lucky not to be blinded.

The teenager decided to leave the party after a friend was attacked with a bottle.

Another friend helped Stuart and called an ambulance and he was taken to Dorset County Hospital.

His mum Kay Purnell, 43, of Wyke Regis, described the attack as ‘disgusting’ and said her son ‘had not got a horrible bone in his body.’ She said: “He was supposed to have his eyelid stitched too but because he suffers from ADHD and Asperger’s, needles really upset him, so the doctors agreed to glue it instead.

“He’s got to go back and have that checked.

“Stuart’s also got to go to Poole Hospital on Thursday because of his jaw.”

She added: “He was just helping two strangers and these lads started laying into him.

“They punched him, kicked his ribs and legs, spat at him, if he hadn’t protected his face it would’ve been a lot worse.

“These youths called themselves ‘the Portland crew.’”

PC Jim Long said: “There was an organised gathering of youths near the Royal Naval Cemetery on Friday night. It had been advertised on Facebook and was an outdoor party of sorts. There were quite a few youths in the area at the time.

“The assault took place at 11.30pm on Friday night. It was a nasty assault and appears to have been unprovoked.

“We understand the assault took place on the footpath that runs along the cemetery at the top of Verne Common Road.

“We are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident or who has any information regarding these three youths to contact the police.”

Call the police on 01305 222222.