EXCLUSIVE by Victoria Huntley A SCHOOLBOY had to have emergency surgery to repair a fractured skull after he was hit over the head with a hammer during an unprovoked atta

EXCLUSIVE

by Victoria Huntley

A SCHOOLBOY had to have emergency surgery to repair a fractured skull after he was hit over the head with a hammer during an unprovoked attack.

The 13-year-old football fan was on his way to practise on Friday afternoon when he was struck with "something hard", believed to be a hammer, as he came out of the Greggs bakery near where a separate group of youths were fighting in Market Square off Roman Road in Bethnal Green around 4pm.

He told the Advertiser: "I felt something hit me but I thought I'd just been punched.

"I was staggering so I grabbed hold of a post and then tried to go home but all these people started gathering round to help me and then I saw the blood all over my trousers and my shoes so I knew I must have been hit with something hard.

"I wasn't really in any pain but I was really shocked and dizzy. I didn't really know what had happened to me."

Passers-by started to help the boy to his nearby home but were met halfway by his mother who had come rushing out of the flat after hearing from a friend that her son had been attacked.

She said: "I couldn't believe it; there was blood completely covering one side of his face.

"All these things kept rushing through my mind about brain damage and how badly he was hurt and I just dialled 999 without thinking.

"Then I was thinking 'why him?'. He's a good boy; he's not one of those boys who goes around in groups or gangs. He likes football and is good at school. I just can't believe this has happened to him."

The teenager was rushed from Whitechapel's Royal London Hospital to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital where he underwent emergency neurosurgery on Friday night to fix a fragment of his skull which was putting pressure on his brain.

He was kept in hospital under observation before being discharged on Sunday evening and has to return to hospital for a scan and final checks before being allowed back to school in a few weeks.

Police are appealing for anyone with information to contact Tower Hamlets CID on 020 7275 4671 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

A 14-year-old boy was arrested in connection with the incident has been released on police bail pending further enquiries.