Terminally ill father beaten up by thugs

A terminally ill father-of-one told today how vicious thugs beat him up as he walked home despite repeatedly telling them he was dying of cancer.

Shaun Bowring, 42, had spent the evening playing pool with his son when he was confronted by the sick yobs and punched in the face.

He pleaded with his attackers for mercy and told them he was terminally ill – but they ignored his plea and battered him to the ground.

Shaun, who had a tumour removed from his bowel last year but now has stomach cancer, even showed the callous thugs the drip in his arm which he uses for chemotherapy.

One of the youths cruelly offered his hand in a feigned show of sympathy before he punched Shaun in the face.

The thugs then wrestled Shaun to the ground before repeatedly kicking him. He suffered several broken ribs and says he is now too scared to go out on his own.

Shaun had enjoyed a night out in a social club in Bristol playing pool with his 20-year-old son Dean.

They left to walk home to Shaun’s home in Little Stoke at about 11.30pm on August 5, when they walked past a group of three teenagers walking in the other direction.

One of the youngsters punched Dean in the ribs in an unprovoked attack before the gang surrounded his father.

Shaun said: ”I told them I didn’t want any trouble. I felt like they were going to start on me so I told them I just wanted to go home.

”I told them I had cancer and showed them the PICC line in my arm which is used for my chemotherapy.

”One of them said he knew what I was going through, because he had lost a relation to cancer. Then he shook my hand.”

The youths told his friends to shake Shaun’s hand too but the youngster who had attacked Dean then punched helpless Shaun in the face.

A stunned and scared Shaun then tried to defend himself by hitting the teen with his pool cue, which only exacerbated the situation.

The other two said his actions were ”uncalled for” and that the youngster was going to fight him.

Meanwhile, Dean had managed to get away and was calling the police while Shaun wrestled the thug only for his friends to jump on Shaun from behind and push him to the ground where they kicked him repeatedly.

Shaun shouted that his PICC line had come out and they stepped back, giving him a chance to break free and run away.

He spoke to police later that night and was taken to Frenchay Hospital where doctors told him to keep using the pain medication he was on for his cracked and broken ribs.

Shaun said: ”I couldn’t believe it – I can’t understand why someone would do that.

”It was such a horrible incident and it has made me wary of walking past youths. These three just seemed to be looking for trouble that night.”

Police, who are appealing for witnesses to the assault, have arrested two people in connection with the attacks and released them on bail.