Former ITN News at Ten anchor Selina Scott says she felt like she’d been “stabbed” in the leg during the vicious central London attack which occurred in broad daylight
TV legend Selina Scott said she was viciously attacked and mugged by a gang in broad daylight.
The former ITN News at Ten anchor, 74, has revealed she was the victim of a vicious assault on Piccadilly in Central London last week. Scott said she’s been left “shattered” and “traumatised” by the mugging and feared she’d been “stabbed” during the attack.
The TV icon who also appeared on the BBC’s Breakfast Time (now BBC Breakfast) said she was leaving a Waterstones in Piccadilly when she was struck on the back of her right knee and surrounded by a gang of around seven or eight men and women. She feared she’d been stabbed in the leg but bravely fought back against the group who tried to grab her designer backpack.
Selina was able to keep hold of her bag, but one of the thieves managed unzip it and snatch her purse before running off. The former TV star said she was ‘hemmed in’ by the assailants, who she says were of “East Asian origin” and wearing “expensive sportswear”.
The ITV presenter was attacked from both sides near a “busy bus stop” and that the thieves moved so quickly that it must have been a “coordinated assault”. Selina said that nobody would have known what was happening and that the assault was “slick, brief, and clearly engineered to happen in the middle of crowd”.
The gang walked off laughing, said Selina, who lost her driving license, cards and cash. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Selina said she felt “battered, confused, and a little humiliated” by the terrifying event and headed towards Fortnum & Mason, which was just a few hundred yards ahead.
The broadcaster suffered bruising in her leg and was relieved they didn’t use a knife. She claimed she tried to find a police officer but didn’t find any despite being in “some of London’s busiest central areas”.
The star fumed at a “lack of police on our streets”, writing: “I still feel shattered after what has happened. I can’t believe it happened to me. I’m mentally resilient and physically fit, but if they can attack me in such a brazen way they can attack anyone.
“You’re left feeling not just traumatised, but stupid that you have somehow let it happen. I’m also furious about the lack of police on our streets. No wonder the gang who set about me have a sense of impunity – they can do anything they want because they know no one will stop them.”
Selina said she had to walk three miles to get home to her flat in Kensington as she had no cards with which to pay for a bus or taxi. She registered the crime on her phone using the Met’s online forum.
The Met Police said: “While we understand that the victim was frustrated that she couldn’t see any police officers on the street, a significant number of officers patrol the West End every day – not just in uniform on foot, but also in plain clothes and in vehicles to have the best opportunity to identify and apprehend suspects. We would be happy to talk to the victim to better understand her concerns.”
Selina Scott shot to fame as a newsreader on ITN (before it rebranded to ITV) during the Falklands War and later moved to Breakfast Time in 1983. She interviewed huge names such as now-president Donald Trump, Bono’s U2 and King Charles.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
