Bloody hammer crime strikes near City University

A trail of dried blood leads away from Northampton Square

A violent attack broke out between two groups of young men on Monday evening outside City University in Clerkenwell. A 20-year-old Asian man was bludgeoned with a hammer and suffered from several head injuries, spraying the surrounding sidewalks with blood.

The victim, whose identity has not been revealed by police, was walking with friends along Wyclif Street towards Northhampton Square when they became involved in an argument with a large group of young men, some in their early teens. The argument escalated and members of the group began assaulting the victim with a hammer.

The victim sustained serious wounds to his head, legs and arms and was taken to a North London hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The police arrived at around 20.40 to the scene and sealed the area off. Two members of the group, aged 14 and 15, were arrested shortly after the incident. Police say they have been released on bail and are due to return the police at a later date.

Matt Finn, a law student at City University, was walking by the violent scene shortly after the incident happened. “I saw a hammer and a bloody jumper on the street. There were spots of blood everywhere.” The victim sat on the street, bleeding in his face, and surrounded by 10 to 15 young people.

Tim Wallace, a broadcast journalism student at City, was signing out of the late-night access to the University when he saw the police sealing the area off:

I almost stepped right in the blood. There was still a bloody jumper and the hammer on the street.

Two days after the attack, blood stains the sidewalk near the scene of the crime.

The victim was not a student but a member of the public. The security office at City University does not know about the circumstances that led to this fight. However, they say the safety of the students is guaranteed with guards controlling the area 24 hours a day.

“There is crime in London everywhere. The victim could have been targeted by the group of youths. It was a coincidence that it happened outside City University,” said one of the security guards.

The campus has seen its fair share of crime this year as three people have been attacked near the campus since November.

One incident, which took place 5 November 2009, around 30 youths surrounded a group of students and attacked them with metal poles, bricks and sticks while shouting racist abuses. Two students and a passerby who tried to intervene were stabbed.

Anyone with information or who witnessed this incident are encouraged to call Trainee Detective Constable Russell Knight on 020 7421 01723 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.