A 16 year old has described his shock after being attacked and left covered in blood by a gang of 10 wearing masks in a car park.
Harvey Pickering said one of his attackers filmed the terrifying incident, which happened in broad daylight.
Harvey was walking home in broad daylight from school when he was ambushed at around 3pm on Tuesday.
The schoolboy said: “I had walked past them and thought nothing of it. Then I heard someone coming up behind me.
"I was hit on the head and then I was on the floor. I was shocked. One moment I was getting hit on the back of my head and then the next thing I knew I was getting up and covered in blood.
"I looked and one of them was filming it and then they ran off.”
Mum Chantelle Mountford, 39, told StokeonTrentLive : "They jumped on him from behind.
"They were hitting him on his head. He had blood pouring from his face. What made them do this to my son?
"What has my son ever done to them? There has been trouble going on at Harvey's school. He’s never been involved. You can ask any student or any teacher at the school, he’s a really good boy.
"He hasn’t got a bad bone in his body, he just focuses on football. He doesn’t get involved with any trouble, I’ve never had a single problem with him which makes it more upsetting.
“We’ve had people trying to help saying ‘give us their names’, ‘we’re going to do this’, ‘we’re going to do that’ but when is this ever going to end?
"This is the problem. Innocent people are getting hurt. It’s just silly, mindless hooliganism. I’m hoping this isn’t going to knock his confidence to carry on just being positive and normal. I’m hoping he’s going to be OK to walk to school and stay in good spirits. He's got a lot of friends and had a lot of support.
“We’re not going to know how this has fully affected him until he starts going out again. I think he’s disappointed. He is just thinking ‘why me, what have I done to you to deserve this?’ I think hopefully he’ll just be OK.”
Dad Anthony Pickering, aged 44, said: “Whoever was walking down that pathway that day was going to get it, going to get jumped.”
A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: "We believe there were around 10 men involved in the group at the time. They are described as Asian and appeared to be around 18-years-old.
"Anyone who witnessed the assault, or those with any information which could help us with our investigation, are urged to get in touch."
Witnesses should call the force on 101, quoting incident number 392 of December 13, or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.
