'I have cried myself to sleep'

11:07am Friday 9th May 2008

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A MOTHER and daughter were savagely beaten on a packed tube train after asking a girl to stop flicking sweets at them.

Hardeep, 29, and her mother Jashan, 50, of West Ealing, say they have both been left traumatised by the unprovoked assault.

Both women, who were so shaken by the brutal assault they have asked for only their first names to be printed, say the worst part of the terrifying ordeal was that nobody in the packed carriage stepped forward to pull the attackers off.

Hardeep said: "It has left me completely traumatised. I have cried myself to sleep every night since this happened. I never imagined something like this could happen on a busy train.

"I thought surely someone has to step in and stop this. Why did none of those men in the carriage do something to stop it? What has affected me almost as much is that so many people did not care enough to help us. It makes me think I should not be so caring towards other people."

The attack happened on a Central Line train between West Acton and Ealing Broadway at around 9.30pm, on Saturday, May 3, after Hardeep asked a girl to stop flicking sweets from an elasticated candy necklace at her.

Jashan said: "The girl had flicked sweets three times onto Hardeep before she asked her to stop.

"When she did, the girl said Who do you think you are, my mother?'. Hardeep did not respond so she kept asking and eventually my daughter said If I was your mother I would be ashamed'."

At this point a man who was sitting next to the girl started threatening to headbutt Hardeep. He then grabbed her. When Jashan stood up to defend her daughter, the girl stood up and blocked her way. Then she hit Jashan.

Jashan said: "At that point I blacked out, and the next thing I remember is seeing my daughter lying on the ground and both of them kicking her.

"Then the man grabbed her hair and pulled her head off the ground, before saying to me Watch this'. Then he began stamping on her chest with his boot. I went to pull him off, but he grabbed my throat and started strangling me."

Hardeep, who had been out shopping for a dress to wear to her graduation next week, has been left covered in bruises.

She said: "I never used to think badly of people, but that girl was deliberately trying to push all the buttons. No-one but my mother tried to stop them getting away, not the station workers or the police who came down.

"Only two people stayed to give statements to the police, the rest of them just disappeared. I would urge anyone who saw it to come forward so these people can be caught before they do something like this again."

PC Tracey Taylor-Provost, of British Transport Police (BTP), said: "We have collected forensic evidence and will be speaking with witnesses and reviewing CCTV from the station to help determine the attackers' identities.

"This was a vicious and completely unprovoked attack on two women who were simply making their way home."

The first suspect is described as a man, aged about 18, He is around 5ft 10ins tall and was wearing a grey, brown and khaki baseball cap, which was white under the peak.

The girl is described as white with a pale complexion, aged around 17. She is 5ft 5ins tall, with straight black shoulder-length hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a white top with skinny trousers and slip on shoes and was carrying a white carrier bag with a distinctive chequered pattern across the middle.

Anyone with information can contact BTP on 0800 40 50 40, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.