Community police officers stood by as grandmother rescued man attacked by three girls

A woman told how two police community officers stood by while a man was attacked by three teenage girls.

Ann Ward said she rushed to help the man while the officers did nothing.

Mrs Ward, 59, a great-grandmother, said: "It was disgusting — any other men would have stepped in to help."

She spotted the girls kicking and punching the 55-year-old man in Ravensbury Park near Morden.

She said: "They asked him the time, then attacked him, hitting him across the back of the head with a stick."

She added: "I shouted at him to keep hold of his bag and told him I was coming."

The girls ran off, and Mrs Ward said the PCSOs radioed for help but did not tackle them.

Mrs Ward said: "They said they were there to report the crime to the police and take notes."

A Met spokeswoman confirmed it was investigating a complaint. She said: "Two females were arrested. A third female handed herself in. They have all been bailed to return in December."

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The two police community support officers were under investigation.

Nicknamed plastic bobbies for their lack of training, the PCSOs were only a few hundred yards away when the incident happened.

But instead of taking action, the duo chose to hide behind a tree, according to a witness.

The officers said "they had the incident under surveillance", the witness added.

The witness has now lodged a complaint with Scotland Yard claiming the support officers only radioed for help when they were asked why they had not taken any action.

But the PCSOs claim they responded as soon as they were made aware of the incident.

Scotland Yard chiefs were so shocked by the claims they launched a 'Gold Command' meeting and put Assistant Commissioner Tim Godwin in charge of the investigation.

A senior officer said: "This could not be more embarrassing for the Met."

"PCSOs might not have been able to arrest these girls but they could have at least prevented this man from being beaten up.

"Instead, they are accused of hiding behind a tree. If this is found to be true, it really shows the ineffectiveness of PCSOs."

The embarrassing incident comes just weeks after it was revealed that two PCSOs looked on while a boy of 10 drowned in a lake.

The support officers in that case claimed they were not adequately trained to rescue Jordon Lyon as he struggled for his life in Wigan in May.

It also comes as new figures reveal the recruitment of every Metropolitan Police community support officer costs the taxpayer more than £1,300 in marketing.

Scotland Yard spent £3,311,164 on advertising and marketing for PCSO positions last year.

During that time it signed up 2,500 officers to work across the capital - a publicity cost of £1,324 each.

Increasing the numbers of PCSOs on the streets of London has been a priority of Commissioner Sir Ian Blair as part of the safer neighbourhoods programme.

The role of the uniformed officers is intended to reassure communities by bolstering police numbers on the frontline.

Some critics have highlighted how they do not carry the same powers of arrest as police officers and that their training is shorter.

Last year's recruitment drive resulted in the number of PCSOs soaring from 2,308 on March 31 2006, to 3,682 a year later.

The recruitment of PCSOs is part of a strategy to give every one of the 624 wards in London its own dedicated policing team.