Diane Elcock was attacked on Sunday evening while serving at the Trumpet bar , Bilston.
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00:00Hello, we are at the Trumpet Pub in Bilston High Street. I'm joined by Diane Elcock.
00:12Now, you help your partner, Musty Bowmer, who runs the pub, and you were working here
00:19on Sunday night. Do you want to tell us what happened?
00:26We'd had a gig in the afternoon, a jazz gig, and so it was quiet then on the evening. I'd
00:35just got one customer left, one of my regulars, and we were listening to music. And then in
00:43came two black males and one white female, and the female came right behind the bar and
00:59just grabbed hold of me, put me into a headlock, and started to punch me in the head. I was
01:07frightened for the pub and the security, and I was trying to get the till switched off behind me.
01:17Then the male, the black male wearing a woolly hat, he then started to bang on the till and was
01:25trying to release the till open, the till by banging his hand hard on the till. I then noticed
01:33the other black male who came into the pub. He was then starting to take bottles off the shelf.
01:42The girl continued to punch me. The black male then started to punch me in the head.
01:50She then got me down low, then I was shouting and screaming for help. And my elderly customer
01:58who was in the pub, he came towards to try to help and was shouting at them and telling them
02:04to leave me alone. He came to the bar and then they pushed him to the ground and then they
02:12started to kick him. I was trying to escape, get loose, and I tried to get from behind the bar.
02:22Then as I sort of fell, stumbled over and fell down onto the floor over my customer.
02:29And then the girl grabbed hold of me again and then she pushed me onto one of the bench chairs,
02:35the sofas. She got my hair and got my head pulled right down towards the ground. And then she was
02:42inviting the men, the two black males, to come and punch me and hit me. I was shouting and shouting
02:48for help. And then my partner, Musty Boomer, he heard me, he was upstairs. He came down and then
02:56he started to shout and saying, what's going on? What are you doing? What's going on? And I said,
03:02they've stolen all the things, you know. And he's shouting at them and telling them to leave me
03:08alone and asking things. And then the other man, the customer, had got back to his feet by then
03:18and he was shouting too. And then they went outside the pub and I got my phone and I was
03:26trying to phone the police. And I kept trying to explain to the police that they were there,
03:31they were there. But these people, they didn't even seem bothered. They were just standing there
03:36on the side of the street and shouting abuse at me and telling me I wasn't really phoning the police
03:44and saying that they were going to do damage to the pub. The pub was finished and
03:53he phoned the police. And I kept trying to speak to the police to get through.
03:59A security van that works in the town, I was standing in the middle of the road,
04:03I was trying to get attention, draw people's attention. And I tried to wave him down, but
04:08he just drove past and continued to drive past. And then a few minutes later, I saw the van again
04:15and I tried to call him and stop him and he just wound his window down a little bit.
04:19And he didn't even get out the van or anything or try to help me. And then one man, he ran away.
04:29The other two were still there, the female and the male. And they were trying to then go across
04:36the bridge towards the other side. So I tried to block their way and I asked my sister to stand
04:41there to try to stop them escaping. So I was kept hoping and hoping and praying the police would come
04:48and then they would be able to take them away after everything they'd done to me and my customer.
04:59And then they arrested them and they took them in a car. And then after speaking to the police
05:11and trying to get them to look at the video footage, they arrested them for assault.
05:19They said there was video footage to prove what had happened.
05:23They then advised me to go to the hospital because they took photographs of me and I was
05:31all beaten and bruised. I went to the hospital and the hospital brought the person who assaulted me,
05:39the female, in and sat her in the same room in the hospital. And then the police lady then said,
05:47could you take her through first because she's the one that's assaulted her in front of everybody
05:52in the hospital. And then they took her through to the side. They told me then, eventually,
05:58they told me to go through to corridor number two. And she was sitting there with the police
06:05shouting abuse at me and telling them not to say her name out loud or anything.
06:10And then I waited there ages and ages and ages. And then, eventually, I saw a lady from triage
06:19who was very nice. I explained what happened. She was very nice, very kind. Then she said,
06:24she gave me a piece of paper and told me to go upstairs. I went upstairs and they sent me to
06:31the room where the person who assaulted me was sitting there and the hospital was full of people.
06:38So I had to go back out of the room and tell the people that the person who assaulted me
06:43was in that room. I had already explained this and then they made me sit here and told me to
06:49sit in another room to wait and I waited five hours. And now you've seen, been to the hospital,
07:00what are your injuries? I've got bumps and bruises and a cushion on my head. I've got
07:09bruised face, eye, chin, nose. I've got bruises on my stomach.
07:19Today, the policeman phoned to say that he's going to let him out on bail because
07:25he doesn't think he's got enough evidence.
07:31When I saw the doctor at the hospital, he said they've fractured my nose and I've got to go
07:36back in five days when the swelling's gone down to see if I need anything doing.
07:46And do you work as a teacher at a primary school normally?
07:51I do, it would be my first day back today after.
07:56But you had to presume, you had to linger and say you can't go back, so what's happened?
08:00That's correct.
08:01How do you feel about going back to work now?
08:05Well, obviously I can't go back in front of the children looking like this all bruised and bad.
08:11My head was very understanding and I explained to her that they'd arrested two of them
08:22for what had happened and she's told me to, you know, to take it easy and to,
08:30you know, to try to get better. But I never have a day off work, I never have a day off.
08:38Is this the first time you've ever been off work?
08:40Yeah.
08:42And how do you think you'll feel about going back behind the bar now,
08:46do you think you'll be able to do that?
08:48Well, it's very worrying and concerning because you can't lock a pub, can you?
08:53Stop customers coming in. So how do you stop this happening?
08:57They say call the police but how can you call the police when you're being beaten up?
09:03Can I just say something?
09:04There she's not just the bar, she deals with all the booking of the musicians.
09:09She's more known than me because I've been here for a long time, of course,
09:12but she's doing all the work really, you know.
09:16With this pub, it's the trumpet, you know, it's been giving live music to people since the late
09:2450s, you know, every night of the week with nice, reputable, nice customers, nice people
09:33a nice friendly atmosphere with nice people.
09:41Can you just answer?