There’s an assault almost every fortnight in the Meadows

There’s an assault every two and a half weeks in the Meadows.

According to Police Scotland, there have been a total of 87 assaults within the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links from April 2010 to September 2015 – that amounts to one assault every two and a half weeks.

When broken down, there have been four serious assaults and 19 cases of robbery and assault with intent to rob.

Altogether there have been 12 sexual offences, including three cases of rape, three cases of indecent assault, and two sexual assaults over the past five years, including last year’s shocking event when a woman was attacked early one morning.

As well as this, there have been 47 minor assaults, around 10 a year, plus five minor assaults on emergency workers. What kind of person attacks a paramedic?

These statistics come after a long history of crime in the Meadows.

In November 2011, a student was raped by two men near Melville Drive as she walked through the Meadows at 3:30am.

A week later, around 7pm, a 21-year-old was sexually assaulted when she was grabbed by a man as she jogged past the tennis courts.

In August 2013, a 20-year-old man was mugged as he made his way through Middle Meadow Walk after a night out.

On November 15th of last year a second year was raped as she walked through Jawbone Walk after a night out with friends.

Middle Meadow Walk

This sparked a petition by Elizabeth Kerry, manager of Meadow Court, to improve CCTV and lighting in the Meadows, which gained almost 3,000 supporters.

However, a decision was reached by the council that due to “cost and trees restricting views” CCTV would not be beneficial and that the subject should not be pursued further.

Yet, in May of this year, a 20-year-old suffered severe facial injuries after he was punched to the ground and robbed by three men as he walked through Middle Meadow Walk.

The pavement after one attack

And on September 1st, a second year History student also suffered severe facial injuries after he was attacked by a man wearing tweed as he made his way home from Hive with friends.