One of the men injured in a series of unprovoked assaults in Yeovil has praised the police officers and staff who helped him on the day and supported him through the subsequent court case.

The man wrote to Chief Constable Sarah Crew to say: “I would just like to thank all your staff who looked after me, the other victims and my family … Nothing was too much trouble to them.”

He described the attending officers, those who investigated and the staff at the Lighthouse Victim and Witness care unit as “brilliant”.
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A man and a boy have been handed custodial sentences after admitting carrying out the attacks on strangers in Yeovil between 6.30am and 8am on Saturday 18 February 2023.
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Jamie Gosney, 27, of no fixed abode, and a boy, 14, who cannot be named for legal reasons due to his age, were sentenced at Taunton Crown Court on Thursday 25 May.
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Gosney was jailed for 12 years in total for seven counts including assault causing grievous bodily harm (GBH), assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH), assault by beating, possession of an offensive weapon and possession of a bladed article.

The boy was handed a two-year detention training order for the same offences.

The pair carried out the attacks between 6.30 and 8am:

• 6.30am – a man was punched in the head near Crofton Stores on Crofton Park/Goldcroft.
• 7.24am – man hit over the head with a metal bar outside Cineworld and another stabbed in the car park at the location. Thankfully neither suffered life-threatening injuries, but they both required hospital treatment including stitches.
• 7.29am – man spat at, punched and stabbed near Pen Mill railway station, needing stitches to injuries which were thankfully not life-threatening.
• 7.47am – man punched on St Michael’s Avenue.

All available resources were deployed and the duo were arrested by 9am.

Detective Sergeant Paul Brown said: “This was a shocking series of incidents in which a man and a boy assaulted total strangers for no apparent reason. The victims in this case were entirely innocent members of the public going about their Saturday.

“I’d like to thank the victims for their important contribution to this conviction and recognise the impact this awful experience has had on them. I hope the guilty pleas and the custodial sentences give them some peace of mind and wish them well as they move on with their lives. I’d also like to thank my team, especially the officer in the case DC Simon Ledbury, for their work on the case.”

​Neighbourhood Inspector Rachel Clark said: “This was a wholly exceptional occurrence for our town. I hope the community is reassured by the robust response and speedy deployment of officers on the ground, as well as the thorough and effective investigation carried out by CID colleagues, which left the defendants with no alternative but to admit their crimes.”