Son scarred for life trying to save mum from bare-chested men

A SIX-INCH scar slashed into his face, this is what happened to Shaun Flintoft after he tried to save his mum from being attacked outside a pub.

Shaun and his brother Simon were set upon by three strangers while they protected their mum Lynne from an attack as they walked home from a family meal.

Shaun, 23, has been left with more than 30 stitches to two wounds in his head and neck.

He said: "They have no right to be able to go out and do something like this to someone.

"People like that don't deserve to walk free, not if they can do that to someone over nothing."

Mrs Flintoft was walking past the Bank pub in east Hull when people began shouting abuse from inside.

Three bare-chested strangers then ran out of the pub and Mrs Flintoft said she was forced to shield herself from being punched and kicked.

Simon came to her aid and he says a bottle was smashed over his head and he was knocked unconscious. As Shaun tried to help his mum and brother, he was glassed and scarred for life.

Mrs Flintoft said: "When I managed to get up, I looked round and saw both my sons lying in Holderness Road, unconscious.

"It was such a shock. I started crying, I didn't know what to do.

"Then I went over and saw Shaun's face.

"The skin was hanging off and you could see his jaw bone."

The trio and two friends were walking home at about 8pm on Thursday when Mrs Flintoft says something was shouted at her from inside the pub.

She says one of the boys shouted something harmless back and it was then the three attackers set on the group.

Simon went to the aid of his mum to try to pull them off but was hit with a bottle.

"I don't remember anything else," said Simon.

"I can only remember being hit on the head and I fell to the ground."

Mrs Flintoft says Shaun is lucky to be alive after he was also hit just millimetres away from his jugular vein.

"A surgeon had to be called to fix his cheek because an artery had been cut," she said.

"He also had a cut to his neck. The doctors said if it had gone another inch, it might have cut through his jugular and he might not be here.

"When the reality hit home, my heart sank. My son might have died, but then I think of the lucky side of it and that he is sitting here with me now."

"For someone to carry out such a brutal attack is unbelievable," said Mrs Flintoft.

"I can't believe what he has been put through, not only the physical scars but the mental images both boys have been left with."

Shaun has been left with no memory of the attack which has left him scarred for life.

He said: "I could understand a little better if we were egging them on but I can't get my head around this.

"We need them caught.

"We were defending mum and they came running up to us."

The family want to get in touch with two off-duty nurses who came to the aid of Shaun and Simon shortly after the attack to thank them for their help.

Anyone with information or who witnessed the attack should call Humberside Police on 101, quoting log 731 of July 18.