Council pledges action after 'appalling' attack on Wembley family (From Harrow Times)

Brent Council pledges action after 'appalling' attack on Wembley family

9:32am Wednesday 5th September 2012 in News By David Hardiman, Reporter

  The man in charge of public safety in Brent has labelled an attack on a Wembley family that left a mother in hospital as “appalling”.

Councillor Lincoln Beswick, lead member for crime and public safety at Brent Council, said that the attack by a gang of thugs on a man and his wife, who was holding her one-year-old baby, on Saturday night in the St Raphael’s Estate reinforced that “tackling crime in Brent is a high priority”.

The victims, a 52-year-old Nigerian man and his wife, 39, whose leg was fractured in three places, were badly beaten by the 15-strong group after going out to see what the noise was outside their flat in Rainborough Close at 11.30pm.

Neighbours of the couple said yesterday that they were “scared” to live in the estate because of a group of men drinking and smoking cannabis.

Cllr Beswick told the Harrow Times : “We are about to launch a number of initiatives, including in the St Raphael’s estate, as part of the Safe as Houses project for which Brent Council was recently awarded £35,000 from the Home Office.

“This will fund extra undercover police work in the area, though, for obvious reasons we wouldn’t give details of exactly where that will take place.

“We will be contacting social housing landlords in the area to urge them to use their powers to evict tenants who harass or commit crime against their neighbours.”

He added that the council will hold three crime prevention events starting this month, and will work with other bodies to offer gang members a way out of their lifestyle.

Detectives investigating the attack have appealed for information from witnesses and on Monday, Brent Police promised “a swift and strong response” if people came forward.

The suspects are described as a group of black men aged between 20-30.