The main victim – a 34-year-old man – suffered a series of horrifying injuries, including a boot mark on his hand, a swollen eye and dozens of welts and bruises on his back where he was whipped with a golf umbrella.His girlfriend received a black eye after being punched in the face when she tried to intervene – even though she had a baby in her arms at the time.

The couple had been on their way home from a family day trip to Skegness with their eight-year-old boy, a family friend and five other youngsters aged between one and 12, when the sickening assault was launched in Paston Ridings at about 7.30pm.

Two teenagers began shouting abuse at the family and were joined by two older men in their 20s, who set upon the main victim after he confronted them about their behaviour.

His girlfriend (35) said: “The two older men were behind him and the four of them got stuck into him at the same time. He ended up on the ground. They kicked and kicked at his head, his back and his arms, and one of them stamped on his hand so hard he left a footprint.

“They snatched a golf umbrella off my eight-year-old son and whipped him with it many times on his back. It’s covered in large, red blisters and bruises, and his ribs are also badly bruised.

“There was nothing I could do. I was screaming at one of them to leave him alone. He told me to shut up and punched me in the face. I was holding my friend’s one-year-old baby at the time.”

Her boyfriend received hospital treatment for a number of injuries, including a broken hand. He welcomed The ET’s campaign to stop the violence in Peterborough.

He said: “These people are mindless cowards. They attack in numbers, and they will do it again and again until they are caught and locked away. They need to be caught and punished.”
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Case study 2: An ordinary family were again the victims when gang violence reared its head in the city only hours after the first attack.

This time, a 43-year-old father was viciously attacked after taking a group of youths to task over lewd comments made to his two teenage daughters in Bretton Park, Peterborough.

One of the drunken attackers threw a full beer can in his face from barely six feet away, while another smashed a glass bottle over his head, leaving him stumbling around in a daze.

The 20-year-old boyfriend of one of the girls then became the focus of the gang’s fury, after stepping in to help the victim. He was knocked to the ground and subjected to a barrage of kicks and stamps to the head so severe that he was feared dead.

Fortunately, he regained consciousness and suffered no serious injuries, despite needing hospital treatment.The attack happened as the family were taking a short cut to their North Bretton home through the park shortly after midnight last Sunday, having attended a wedding nearby.

The 43-year-old, who is still recovering from his ordeal at home, said: “This violence has got to stop. They don’t seem to care about the consequences of their actions, and it won’t be long before someone is dead.”

• Police today arrested two men aged 19 and 20 in relation to this incident.

Case study 3: Exactly one week on from the second attack, another sickening incident of violence happened in frighteningly similar circumstances in the same park – this time leaving a young father in intensive care.

The 31-year-old from North Bretton, Peterborough, was taking a short cut through Bretton Park with a friend following a night out in the city centre when they were attacked by four thugs at about 3am on Sunday.

While his friend escaped with relatively minor injuries, the father-of-two was not so fortunate – as The ET revealed on Tuesday.

After apparently receiving repeated kicks and stamps to the head as he lay helpless on the ground, he suffered severe head and facial injuries, and was admitted to hospital in a critical condition.

While he remains seriously ill, the unfortunate victim mercifully appears to be making a recovery. He has been moved from intensive care at Peterborough District Hospital to the high-dependency unit, and is said to be stable. He is expected to undergo surgery this week.

A close friend said: “It’s just unbelievable to think that almost exactly the same thing has happened in the same park only a week earlier. You would think something could have been done to stop it happening again.”

Two 17-year-olds from Peterborough were arrested in connection with the attack and have since been released on police bail pending further inquiries.