Student stabbed in neck with smashed bottle 'for speaking Polish' in Telford

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A student has been stabbed in the neck with a smashed drinks bottle “because he was speaking Polish” on a night out with friends. Police are treating the attack on Bartosz Milewski as a racially aggravated hate crime after the 21-year-old was left needing several stitches.

The student had been visiting friends in Donnington, near Telford, on Thursday night after returning from working at a summer camp in the US. The group were in a park in St Matthews Road when a group of men approached at about 1am, West Mercia Police said.

“A fight broke out, during which the man was stabbed in the neck with part of a bottle,” a spokesperson said. “He suffered a cut to his neck and was taken to the Princess Royal Hospital for treatment.

“Officers are investigating the incident, which is being treated as a racially aggravated hate crime, would like to hear from anyone who witnessed it or has any information which would help with their enquiries.”

Three male suspects fled the scene before police arrived, leaving Mr Milewski bleeding with serious injuries.

One of his relatives, Michael Andrejckzuk, told the Shropshire Star the gang were sitting nearby when they heard Mr Milewski speaking Polish. “The people who attacked him were at first sitting a few hundred yards away, but when they heard them talking they came up to them and swore and told them to speak English,” he said.

“They grabbed Bartosz’s drinks bottle, smashed it and stabbed him with it. He dialled 999 himself and they ran off when they saw the ambulance coming.”

Mr Milewski has been discharged from hospital after being given more than a dozen stitches and may not be able to immediately return to Portsmouth University, where he is studying sports development.

The attack was the latest suspected hate crime in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, several of which have targeted people of Eastern European origin.

A Polish man was killed last month in Harlow, where residents staged a tribute march waving Polish flags, and a Polish man was beaten by a gang of teenagers in Leeds on 9 September.

An NHS worker being interviewed by Channel 4 over anti-immigration abuse was recently called a “f***ing Polish grass” by onlookers during filming.

The current number of hate crime reports is 14 per cent higher than at this time last year. In the week following the Brexit vote, the number of reported incidents of hate crime increased by 58 per cent.

No arrests have been made over Mr Milewski’s attack. The offenders are described as three white men in their twenties, one of whom was around 6ft tall, slim, clean shaven and wearing a grey hooded top with grey tracksuit bottoms.

DS Ian Rutherford, from Telford CID said: “We are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area late last night, or in the early hours of Friday morning, who might be able to help us identify the offenders and the motivation for the assault.”

Anyone with information is asked to call West Mercia Police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111 or via their website crimestoppers-uk.com quoting incident 26S of 16 September.