Screaming Crowd Attacks Woman During Arrest

Northern Advocate, 17 August 1949, Page 4

Screaming Crowd Attacks Woman During Arrest

LONDON, Tue. (11 a.m.). —A “shouting, screaming and ver hostile crowd” of 1200 attacked a woman and the police wht arrested her in Islington, North London, last night, after she had allegedly thrown scalding water on a two-year-old child in the street.

The story was told in court today by Police Sergeant Donald Gowan, when Joan Mills, a 25-year-old typist, was remanded in custody for a week for her own protection, after being charged with causing grievous bodily harm to the child.

Sergeant Gowan said that when he and other officers went to Mills’ home in Islington in response to an emergency call, they found the police there unable to control the hostile crowd. After forcing their way into the house, two sergeants brought the typist into the street. “As soon as the crowd saw her, they went completely mad,” he said. “The police there were powerless. “The crowd broke through the police cordon and rushed another sergeant and myself off our feet. “They pulled out Miss Mills’ hair. “I received a blow at the back of the neck and the other sergeant was slashed on the finger with a razorblade.” He added that, after a very tough time, they got the woman into a police car, only to have the mob try to overturn it. When charged, Mills said: “It is the tenants. I do not know what possessed me to throw water over the child.”