Battered with a claw hammer by burglar, D-Day veteran who danced with Camilla
A VETERAN honoured for his bravery during the D-Day invasion was beaten with a claw hammer when he opened his door to a burglar.
Jim Booth, 96, remains in hospital with life-threatening injuries after being savagely attacked on the steps of his bungalow.
Grandfather Mr Booth, from Taunton, Somerset, was found bloodied and dazed by his neighbours after the attack at 4pm on Wednesday. Police said the war hero, who once danced with the Duchess of Cornwall at a Royal Navy veterans’ event was the victim of a ‘distraction burglary’.
He had opened his door to a young man offering to carry out work on his house. When he refused the offer, the thug battered him senseless with the hammer.
Mr Booth stumbled out of his house, blood streaming from his head, and was found by a passing woman. His neighbour William Watkins took him in and called the emergency services.
Mr Watkins, 86, said: ‘I sat him down in a chair and rang the police.
There was a lot of blood. He was in a hell of state.’
Detectives have vowed to catch the thug, who was described as a white, athletic, dark-haired, cleanshaven man in his mid-30s.
In August 2015, Mr Booth danced with Camilla at the veterans’ event in Taunton. He was the only survivor of a ten-man team that spent five days in two mini-submarines, half a mile underwater, guiding Allied landing craft to Sword Beach on D-Day in 1944.