Phone row over castle victim
An unconscious woman spent the night behind the locked gates of the grounds of Newark Castle and when she was found by a passer-by, it is claimed, he was denied the use of the telephone in The Gilstrap Centre to ring for help.
The woman was found by Mr Peter Bombroffe during his daily stroll last week at around 9.20am. She was disorientated, dishevelled and had two black eyes and a broken nose.
“There was a lot of blood around where I found her,” said Mr Bombroffe of Grange Road, Newark.
“I was concerned that she was seriously hurt and when I asked she said that she had been there since 7pm that night. The gates were locked and she had been unable to get out. She said that she had been assaulted.”
Mr Bombroffe said that he told the woman to remain where she was and he went to The Gilstrap Centre where there would be a telephone.
It is here that his version of events differs from Newark and Sherwood District Council’s, which manages the castle grounds and the Gilstrap Centre.
Mr Bombroffe said a staff member at the centre refused to allow him to use the telephone.
“I was shocked and disappointed,” he said.
Mr Bombroffe said he was told that he would have to await the arrival of a park ranger.
Mr Bombroffe said he then ran out on to the street and flagged down a passing ambulance. A paramedic checked the woman and said that she needed hospital treatment, but that he was unable to take her as he was needed in Mansfield.
Mr Bombroffe called the police and an ambulance from a telephone box on Castlegate.
A police spokesman confirmed receipt of Mr Bombroffe’s call and that officers located him and the injured woman minutes later.
The spokesman said: “The woman, approximately 26-years-old, was seen by paramedics but would not make a complaint to the police.”
Newark and Sherwood District Council’s community services manager, Mr Jim Besson said: “We employ a private company, Newark Security, to lock the gates of Newark Castle at dusk.
“Before the gates are locked, it is standard procedure that the grounds are checked thoroughly and anyone remaining is asked to leave.
“The Tourist Information Centre manager was approached by a man on (the) Sunday morning and was asked to call the emergency services. The manager told the man she could call the police if he gave her details, but he declined.”