Gang attack couple outside home

A grandfather was knocked unconscious and his partner had her nose broken outside their own home after asking a teenage gang to be quiet.

William Mandley, 62, confronted 20 youths who had been shouting and swearing outside his Northampton home.

After asking them to move on they knocked him to the ground where he was repeatedly punched and kicked.

His partner, aged 54, was hit in the face by a mother of one of the youths when she came to his aid.

Mr Mandley said: "It's disgusting. I'm in my 60s and I've worked hard all my life. I've never done anyone any harm. I didn't deserve this."

Repeatedly kicked

The road worker asked the group to be quiet after he was woken at 0030 BST on Sunday.

He said: "I just asked them to keep it down and I wasn't rude. The next thing I knew I was lying in a hospital bed covered in my own blood."

His partner, who is too scared to be named, saw Mr Mandley lying on the ground being repeatedly kicked.

She said: "I rang the police then ran out shouting. A woman in her late 30s, one of the lad's mums, started ranting and raving at me."

Mr Mandley was treated for cuts and bruises and his partner for a broken nose.

'Senseless and violent'

"I don't get paid for being off sick so I'm desperate to get back to work, but my back's in agony," he said.

"Society has changed. But I didn't want to be a prisoner in my own home. But now that's exactly what my girlfriend is - she's terrified."

Pc Stephen Dursley said: "This was a senseless and violent attack against this man and his partner.

"His attackers may well be local and we hope anybody who is aware of who they are would call us with the information."