A YOUNG beauty therapist told yesterday how she may need facial reconstruction surgery after being brutally attacked because she spoke with an English accent.
Lucy Newman, 22, suffered a fractured cheekbone, severed nerves and two black eyes after being assaulted at the weekend in what police have condemned as a "despicable act".
A complete stranger left her battered and bleeding on a busy Aberdeen street in the early hours of Saturday morning after lashing out with a single punch and shouting at the Cheltenham-born woman to "Get back to f****** England."
He then walked calmly away as Miss Newman lay helpless on the pavement.
The attack happened at about 2am after she and a friend, Kelly Ogston, had left the Espionage nightclub and were walking up Union Street, near the Trinity Centre, to catch a bus.
As she recovered from her terrifying ordeal, Miss Newman, from the village of Gourdon in Aberdeenshire, said: "We were heading up Union Street when we noticed two older guys – maybe 27 to 30 – to the right of us. I had never seen them before.
"I am originally from Cheltenham, but I have stayed in Gourdon for 16 years and a lot of my friends say I sound really English when I've had a drink or I'm with my mum and dad.
"I don't know whether it's because of that, but all I heard was one of these guys shouting 'Get back to f****** England – English bastard'.
"I turned round, not even thinking he was speaking to me, and the next thing he just punched me to the floor. Whoever did this to me is a coward.
"I have to go back to see the maxiofacial surgeon because I might need reconstructive surgery."
Her father, Leslie, said: "It's terrible my daughter was attacked because she is English. When I got to the hospital, Lucy was covered in blood and I couldn't even recognise her. This man needs to be caught."
Lucy Newman before the attack
Jeannie Felsinger, the director of Grampian Racial Equality Council, condemned the attack. She said racist incidents in the area were rising at a rate of about 5 per cent year on year, and that latest statistics showed there was a higher level of racist incidents involving English people in Aberdeenshire than in Aberdeen itself.
"In the city, the ethnic groups subjected to racist incidents are mainly African, Indian or from the EU accession states such as Lithuania," Ms Felsinger said.
"But Aberdeenshire has a much higher incidence of anti-English feeling. There was a peak in the figures for anti-English incidents during the World Cup in 2006."
She went on: "Amongst ordinary people now, if you were to ask if there was racism in Aberdeen, you are more likely to get an affirmative. Because the numbers of minority people have gone up so much, I think everyone appreciates that there are some tensions now."
A spokesman for Grampian Police confirmed they were treating the incident as a potentially racially motivated assault.
Sergeant David Forsyth said: "While this is clearly a despicable act, it is still, unfortunately, not uncommon for racially motivated incidents to take place."
He added: "Very often, these incidents occur during the evenings when alcohol has been consumed."
The man being sought in connection with the attack is described as between 27 and 30 years old, 6ft tall and of medium build. He was wearing a black beany hat and scarf.
IN NUMBERS
ACCORDING to the latest available statistics, 6,439 racist crimes were recorded by Scotland's police forces in 2006 – an increase of 707 (12 per cent) on the previous year's figure.
Two specific crimes – racially aggravated harassment and racially aggravated conduct – accounted for more than half of all racism-related crimes recorded by the police in Scotland.
The majority of victims were of Asian origin, most of them Pakistanis. More than 20 per cent of the victims had experience of previous racist incidents.
The report states: "Although the number of incidents recorded is increasing, this may be due in part to several factors, such as increasing public intolerance of such behaviour, increased public confidence that reporting such incidents is worthwhile and forces' work with a range of victim support agencies to encourage reporting."
In Aberdeen last year 429 racially aggravated incidents were reported, 25 of which involved attacks on English people. A fifth involved assaults. In Aberdeenshire there were 122 reported incidents of which 29 involved English people.
