A 14-year-old boy has received 11 stitches after having a whisky bottle smashed over his head as a group attacked him on a Cornish beach, police have said.
The boy confronted a male member of the group – whom Devon and Cornwall Police say “are described as having London accents” – after the man threw a plastic cup into a rock pool at around 6pm on Friday.
Two men and one woman then assaulted the teenager, who was left with a laceration to his head and ear.
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Police are appealing for witnesses and mobile phone or dashcam footage of the incident, which took place at the rock pools on Perranporth beach.
The attacker wielding the bottle is described as a stocky, blonde white male wearing a black T-shirt and shorts, standing at around 5’9”.
The other offender, who hit the boy after he had been struck with the bottle, police said, is described as being around two inches shorter, slim and wearing a light blue top.
One local, named Ellie, tweeted: “This is terrible. Many local volunteers have been trying to keep the beach at Perranporth clean and free from rubbish and it has been particularly bad since they lifted lockdown.
“Awful that this lad was attacked for speaking out.”
It comes amid a wave of crimes reported in the region as the tourism sector reopens after months of coronavirus lockdown.
On Saturday 11 July, some 1,400 crimes – 100 more than on New Year’s Eve – were reported as tourists flocked back to beaches, some of which played host to illegal parties.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact police on 101 or via email at [email protected] quoting crime reference CR/057915/20.
