Woman found by Petticoat Lane market traders stabbed and beaten
Police cordon in Petticoat Lane after attack on woman - Credit: Frank Pittal, market trader
Horrified market traders in London’s Petticoat Lane rescued a young woman found in a doorway beaten and stabbed with her face badly disfigured.
They saw a man running from the scene as they arrived to set up for the Sunday street market.
The woman was found in the doorway leading up to flats above the Fressco Lebanese restaurant in Middlesex Street, Aldgate.
“It looked like her lips and nose had been slashed,” said one of the traders who found her, who asked not to be identified.
“She was naked and covered in blood. It was horrific.
“We were all in shock—it’s not a thing you ever want to witness.”
The woman, thought to be from Thailand, was treated by emergency paramedics at the scene, then taken by ambulance to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel where she has undergone facial surgery.
Most Read
- 1 Cyclist in hospital after lorry collision in Whitechapel
- 2 Section 60 in place across Tower Hamlets after Stepney stabbing
- 3 Mile End: Car crashes into bus stop during police pursuit
- 4 'Lucky' escape: Family flees Bethnal Green fire thanks to fire alarms
- 5 'A horrific attack': Man suffers critical head injuries from Shoreditch fight
- 6 Warnings issued after four fox clubs found stuck in old car wheels
- 7 'Staffing crisis' means children's hospice cannot offer end of life care
- 8 Whitechapel nun pens book of 12 stories to inspire selflessness in society
- 9 Aspire 'will work for everyone in Tower Hamlets' after winning majority
- 10 Flats under construction in Hackney Wick to be knocked down and rebuilt
Tilda Koprcosor, 27, a waitress at the Fressco restaurant, said: “I heard the woman call for help three times. The stallholders ran to her and called for an ambulance, then police arrived.”
The man witnesses saw run across the street away from the doorway tripped over a market trolley, then disappeared down Wentworth Street, they said.
A 38-year-old man was being held by police in east London in connection with the incident, Scotland Yard confirmed today.
A police statement said: “We were called to Middlesex Street to a woman injured in street. She has been taken to hospital with head and facial injuries and remains in serious, but stable condition.”
The man being held was arrested last night at Lewisham in south London on suspicion of GBH. Inquiries continue.