Kentish Express Ashford & District
Reporter attacked for ‘taking pictures’
A former Kentish Express reporter was attacked and broke his wrist during an incident on New Year’s Eve.
Sam Lennon was punched in the back of the head over an hour after being threatened while walking to a pub. As he fell to the ground, he landed heavily and broke his arm.
The journalist, 54, had been threatened with violence earlier in the night outside the Duchess pub in Bench Street, Dover, when a man saw Mr Lennon trying to photograph what appeared to be the start of a disturbance.
He was not on duty at the time but was preparing to start taking pictures with his smart phone if the incident spiralled out of control.
Mr Lennon - who now writes for the KM’s Dover Mercury - said: “I went out for a cigarette and saw this large police presence of about 10 officers in a van and two cars.
“Some guy was mouthing off at the police and they were dealing with that. Then at some stage I heard the Irish accent.”
He said he was then threatened by another man in the group with the same accent and when he saw the incident hadn’t become serious, he went back inside.
It wasn’t until he was on his way to Clarendon Place to see in the new year at the Malvern pub that he was struck by a man outside the Alma Hostel.
And as he fell heavily to his knees, the aggressor carried on walking towards Dover Priory railway station, and taunted: “How do you like that?”
The journalist of 31 years said: “He came from behind. I had no idea. I felt the wallop in the back of my head just between my neck and my skull. Down I went. I landed on my two hands and right knee which was grazed. I must’ve gone down hard on the left hand, hence the fracture.
“One of the three men was the one who threatened me and another was a guy who had made a snide comment outside the kebab shop. My friend Andrew Azure was staying with me from London for New Year and he asked the man: ‘What did you do that for?’
“They walked off to the station followed by a large crowd of men and women.”
It wasn’t until the next day that Mr Lennon called the police when he woke up in excruciating pain.
“I’m sure the attack is to do with me trying to take that picture. If I wasn’t a journalist I wouldn’t be taking the picture and if I’d been standing by watching, they wouldn’t have noticed me,” he said. “The fact they came across me later is why they took the chance to take a pop.”
The fracture was confirmed at hospital on New Year’s Day and a cast was applied.
Mr Lennon will not be able to drive for six weeks and is unable to work.
Officers are investigating the assault. Kent Police said they received a report on that a man had suffered an injury following an assault at around 11.15pm on December 31 in Folkestone Road, near to the York Street roundabout.
Inquiries are ongoing and anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Kent Police on 01843 222289 quoting 01-0733, or contact Crimestoppers in Kent on 0800 555 111.