Men 'wanted to do damage': editor

Last updated at 10:21 GMT, Thursday, 26 November 2009

A newspaper editor has said the men who attacked him in Belfast city centre on Wednesday evening wanted to do "severe damage" to his head.

The Sunday World's Jim McDowell was attacked by at least two men at the Continental Market at City Hall.

Mr McDowell, 60, said he heard one of them say "your paper's trying to get my brother killed" before he was hit.

He said he believed he was initially struck with some sort of object then repeatedly kicked when he fell.

"I was dazed and then the blows came raining in, I went down and then the kicks came in, very, very hard and frequently, it was relentless," Mr McDowell.

"There's a heel mark on the back of my head where they were actually stamping on my head as well and the boot coming in was absolutely relentless.

"I tried to get up a couple of times - and I can look after myself - but it was impossible to do it. They wanted to do damage. They wanted to do severe damage to my head."

Mr McDowell, who is editor of the Northern Ireland edition of the Sunday World, was injured in the head, arms and legs, but did not need hospital treatment.

He said when the assault ended, the attackers did not run from the crowded market, but instead "swaggered away".

It happened at about 1710 GMT in the grounds of City Hall, just metres from the buildings front steps.

"Kids screaming, women screaming - I could hear that while these boys were getting laid into me," he said.

"God help any wee kids who were there out for the night with their parents or whatever and saw this happening to a grown man, 60 years of age being beaten to the ground.

"If those guys had knives you'd have been carrying a coffin later this week, I'm convinced of that."

Car vandalised

The attack happened less than two weeks after his car was vandalised outside Craigavon court house.

He attended a hearing involving a number of men who were charged in connection with the murder of one of his reporters, Martin O'Hagan

Mr O'Hagan was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in Lurgan, County Armagh, in September 2001.

Mr McDowell has been threatened several times before by loyalists and republicans.

A police spokesperson, who appealed for information, said one of the attackers was described as being about 5ft 9ins tall, clean shaven with a pale complexion.

He was wearing a black hooded top and a distinctive black striped woolly hat.

A second man is described as being of stocky build. He had hair cropped at the sides and was bald on top. He was wearing a red jacket and dark trousers.