Mother blinded after asking drunken yob to stop swearing in front of her 13-year-old daughter

Published 08th Nov 2009

A mother blinded in a sickening attack after she asked a yob to stop swearing in front of her 13-year-old daughter today accused the law of failing victims.

Seamstress Julie Hobson, 38, needed surgery to remove her left eye after she was repeatedly punched by Thomas Wilkinson.

A shocked neighbour who tried to intervene later said the force of the blows seemed enough to 'knock her head off'.
Julie Hobson

Mrs Hobson had been walking on a quiet residential street with two friends and her daughter Sarah, 13, when she suffered the attack.

They were returning to Mrs Hobson's niece's birthday party after taking another friend home when they came across foul-mouthed Wilkinson.

The 20-year-old launched his savage assault after Mrs Hobson told him off for the language he was using and asked him to 'shut up'.

Jonathan Bertram, prosecuting, told Lincoln Crown Court: 'Mrs Hobson and her friends noticed Wilkinson was shouting and using bad language.

'As he walked towards them Mrs Hobson told him to 'shut up'. She thought it was necessary, as her 13-year-old daughter was present.

'Without warning Wilkinson pushed her into a nearby bush. He then stood over her and repeatedly punched her to the left side of her face.

'Mrs Hobson says she didn't know what was happening and that all of a sudden there was an unbelievable pain in her left eye.'

The court heard that when one of Mrs Hobson's friends, Emma Goodhall, attempted to intervene Wilkinson punched her to the floor.

Local resident Tony Young also witnessed the attack in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, and came running out of his home to try to help Mrs Hobson.

Mr Bertram said: 'Even while being restrained Wilkinson tried to get back at Mrs Hobson. He also punched Mr Young, breaking his glasses.'

Wilkinson, who at the time was living nearby, eventually fled the scene, leaving Mrs Hobson to be taken to Scunthorpe General Hospital.

Doctors there decided they had no choice but remove her eye to prevent further damage. She was later fitted with a prosthetic replacement.

In a victim impact statement she admitted she was 'devastated' by the attack, adding: 'I was so angry and upset. I couldn't stop crying.'

She is now no longer able to work as seamstress and feels unable to leave her home in Runcorn, Cheshire, without her husband Paul, 43.

In a letter to the court jobless Wilkinson, now of no fixed address, claimed: 'I would do anything to have taken back what I have done.'

He admitted causing Mrs Hobson grievous bodily harm with intent on April 4 and causing actual bodily harm to Miss Goodhall and Mr Young.

Sentencing him to six years in a young offenders' institution, Judge Michael Heath told him: 'You were in drink and using bad language.

'You assaulted a defenceless woman. You rained blows down on her. As Mr Young said, it was as if you were trying to knock her head off.'

Mother-of-two Mrs Hobson today criticised the sentence as too short and said Wilkinson would be free within just a few years.

She said: 'The punishment doesn't fit the crime. There's no justice for the victims in these cases - things need to be much fairer for them.

'This has totally changed my life. I can't work work as a seamstress, my prosthetic eye is very painful, and there's still a dark area of my sight.

'My youngest daughter had to witness what happened to me, and both of my daughters have had to have counselling because of this.

'He just wouldn't stop hitting me and kept trying to come back at me. If it wasn't for the man who came out and helped I would probably be dead.'

Mrs Hobson said the incident had made her question whether she was right to try to protect her children from thugs like Wilkinson.

She added: 'I decided that if a yob swore in front of my daughter again I'd do the same. To walk away isn't the kind of world we want to live in.'

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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