Hammer gang batters boy of 15 in school 'race attack'

Henry Webster: His skull was fractured in the attack by a gang of Asian youths

A schoolboy fractured his skull in a savage attack that some parents claimed yesterday was racist.

Henry Webster, 15, was bludgeoned repeatedly with a hammer after being ambushed in his school grounds by a gang of Asian youths.

The parents said the incident was similar to one eight months ago and a sign of growing racial tension at Ridgeway School in Wroughton, near Swindon.

Yesterday 20 parents confronted headmaster Steve Colledge and demanded an urgent meeting to discuss security.

One mother, who claimed her son had also been beaten up by Asians, said: "This was a racist attack.

"The school has a racism problem and they are too scared to do anything in case they are branded racist.

"Is it going to take one of our children to die before they do something?"

Henry was attacked on Thursday afternoon as he prepared to walk home from the 1,450-pupil comprehensive.

His assailants, who do not attend the school, had spilled out of two cars.

One eyewitness said: "Suddenly these four men ran on to the tennis court. Three of them were in front and grabbed Henry.

"The fourth one, at the back, came running up and had a hammer in his hand.

"He hit Henry over 15 times in the head, back and stomach and then ran off.

"The man was using the pointed end of the hammer to hit his skull. The next thing we saw was Henry lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

"He got up, stumbled a bit, saw the blood gushing from his head and then fell back to the floor.

"My mate called the ambulance and the headteacher rushed to us."

One pupil said the attack may have been sparked by a lunchtime scuffle between Henry and some Asian pupils.

According to witnesses, the were older relatives of one of the pupils in the dispute. Around 20 parents attended the meeting with Mr Colledge yesterday.

They emerged to say that the school was now considering introducing fences and security guards.

One mother said: "We need to work together as parents, both white and Asians, to sort this problem out."

Another said: "It's incredible this could happen on school grounds in broad daylight. This is a good school, it's not some rough inner-city comp."

Swindon Council has arranged a meeting on Monday night with all parents to discuss their concerns.

Last May, six teenagers from Ridgeway were taken to hospital - one with a broken jaw - after a group of men jumped out of two cars and attacked pupils.

Police refused to comment on speculation that that incident was racially motivated.

They also said it was too early to establish the motive for the attack on Henry, who lives with his brother Joseph, 12, mother Elizabeth, 43, and her partner Roger Durnford, 42, a builder.

They have a £350,000 detached house on the outskirts of Wroughton. Last night Henry was said to be in a stable condition at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

Some pupils say racial tensions emerged two years ago when Asian pupils from the western suburbs of Swindon joined the school, some forming a gang called the Asian Invasion.

Mr Colledge insisted race relations at the school - where 5 per cent of pupils are Asian - were generally good. "Clearly if somebody upset somebody else it can occasionally look like one group is against another, but pupils do mix and play football together," he added.

Some 73 per cent of Ridgeway pupils achieve A to C grades in their GCSEs, making it one of the area's best schools.

Six men - three aged 19, two aged 18 and one 20-year-old - are being questioned over the attack along with two boys aged 15 and 14.

The eight, who are all from the Swindon area, are being held in custody on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.

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