Racism fear over hammer attack on boy

Eight men have been arrested after a schoolboy, 15, was repeatedly bludgeoned with a hammer in an attack in his school grounds.

Some parents at Ridgeway School in Wroughton, near Swindon, said the attack, in which four Asian men pinned the boy down at the end of the school day on Thursday, was racially motivated. The headmaster, Steve Colledge, said the attack had left pupils and parents "stunned and shocked". The boy has been described as "comfortable" in hospital.

Mr Colledge said he was on patrol in the grounds when the boy, who is white, was attacked. "After school had ended for the day and pupils were exiting the premises at least four young adults unknown to the school came into the tennis courts and attacked the pupil, we believe with something similar to a hammer." He said he understood the boy had been hit more than once and was "bleeding profusely but conscious at all times".

He added: "Relations seem to be very good and pupils mix, play football and chat together. It's predominantly a white school. Asian pupils probably make up less than five per cent." But Mr Colledge had heard the attackers were relatives of a pupil at the school.

A mother, who did not wish to be named, said she had heard there had been previous racially aggravated incidents at the school. She believes children walking home from school were subject to verbal and physical abuse from relations of Asian pupils at the school.

A spokeswoman for Wiltshire Police said eight arrests on suspicion of grievous bodily harm have been made of men and boys between the ages of 14 and 20.