POLICE have come under fire following claims they took 45 minutes to reach the scene of an attack which left a father with a fractured cheekbone and his car and house windows smashed.
At about 11pm on Friday, October 3, 39-year-old Garry Newman stepped out of his Salisbury Avenue home in Saltney to tell youths hurling abuse from his front gate to go home.
He was subjected to a frenzied attack as one teen tried to force their way into the house, smashing the glass in the front door and others shattered the family car and lounge window.
Mr Newman, who had been sitting in the living room with 16-year-old son Dale and Dale’s girlfriend, has to go back to the Countess of Chester hospital to have his cheekbone checked today (Friday).
South Flintshire inspector Alun Oldfield admitted receiving a complaint about his force’s failure to respond quicker.
Addressing a meeting of Saltney Town Council on Wednesday night, he said he had some “staffing issues” after Cllr Derrick Beddow challenged him on the response time.
Insp Oldfield: “I’ve already received a complaint. The response time I’ve been told is 45 minutes.
“If it’s the case we’ve been too slow to attend, I’ll apologise and take it on the chin.
“If a call comes in saying ‘my house has been trashed and somebody has been attacked violently’ that should be responded to immediately.
“There were four officers on duty at the time of the incident, I’m not sure what else they were doing.”
Insp Oldfield pledged extra officers in Saltney to tackle rising crime in the area – there have already been more than 600 offences reported this year.
He added: “We’ve written up a plan for the next six weekends and there will be an extra four officers for Saltney.”
He confirmed two people had been arrested and released on conditional bail in connection with the incident.
