Boy, 11, ran in terror after three teenagers attacked a man with sticks, court hears

The 11-year-old fled when an argument over a frisbee turned violent, a court heard.

Care worker Alan Willson, 46, was savagely beaten and left fighting for his life.

He spent three months in hospital and will never speak again.

“One of them came, grabbing and pushing him then they started whacking him with really large sticks,” the boy told Sussex Police officers. “They were wood. They looked like stumps.

“When they stopped arguing and started getting violent, I ran screaming to my mum.”

Three teenage boys deny grievous bodily harm with intent. One of the boys can now be named as Harry Furlong, 18, from Horsham.

Hove Crown Court heard the 11-year-old boy was pushed over by one of the teens in a row over a frisbee in Longcroft Park, Worthing.

“I went to the park with my friends, including the three boys, with the frisbee. One of the teenage boys came up to me and pushed me to the ground. I got up and started crying,” the 11-year-old said.

The boy said Mr Willson and the teenagers argued before one grabbed him from behind as another teenager armed himself with a log.

“I was there five seconds, then I started running,” the boy said. “I didn’t see much of it. I saw him pick it up and just about to whack and I started running so I didn’t see the rest. I was there for the arguing but when they started grabbing and hitting him, I didn’t see that.

“I didn’t see much because I ran,” the boy said in a recorded interview.

One of the defendants can now be named as Harry Furlong, 18, from Horsham

Mr Willson’s wife, Annie, fought back tears as she described finding him gasping for breath after he was savagely beaten in the park.

Mrs Willson told how she ran to the park after hearing her husband had been attacked.

The couple, both care workers for the same firm, had been enjoying Easter Sunday at home.

“It was his weekend off. I got home at about 11.30. Alan was home. He made me a cup of tea, as he always does. We had a chat and a cigarette.

“He said why don’t you go upstairs and have a snooze and I’ll be up in a minute.

“I found it difficult to go to sleep unless Alan was with me,” Mrs Willson said. “I woke up some time in the afternoon. Alan was asleep. I went down and made a cup of tea.”

Mr Willson later left the house.

Mrs Willson said she left home still in her pyjamas when she heard her husband had been attacked.

She found her husband lying on a footpath in the park.

“My husband had catastrophic injuries,” Mrs Willson said.

Trying to control her emotions, she described how she found him.

“I could see there was blood all around him. I could hear him attempting to breathe,” she said. “It wasn’t a very nice sound. He had lots of blood in his ears which would indicate a fractured skull. I immediately went in to try and wake him up, pick him up and I was screaming. There was a log underneath Alan.”

Alan Willson spent three months in hospital following the attack

Another man standing nearby was on the phone to emergency services.

Mrs Willson broke down as she told the court: “I went to pull it out because I wanted to make him a little bit more comfortable but the man on the phone told me not to so I didn’t.”

Mrs Willson said doctors in Brighton prepared her for the worst.

Mr Willson spent the next three months in hospital.

“He has recovered as much as he’s going to," she said. "He will never speak again. He has no mental capacity although it fluctuates. He is continent but not always. He is the most frustrated person I’ve ever seen because on the days when he had capacity, he knows what he wants to say but he can’t say it.”

The trial continues.