Violent assault at salon

A VIOLENT attack left shoppers in Crowborough in shock when a woman was assaulted and her shop left in ruins.

Alisun, a health and beauty salon in The Broadway, was the scene of the frenzied assault in broad daylight.

Witnesses said a woman ran into the reception area, started to "smash the place up" and "swung" for the salon workers.

A 36-year-old woman has been cautioned for common assault following the incident.

Alison Landreth, the owner of the salon and the victim of the attack, which happened at about 11am last Thursday, appeared to come away unscathed.

Her husband and co-owner of the salon, Ben, told the Courier: "She is OK and has no major injuries."

Nearby shop owners were stunned by the event, insisting that this kind of incident is very out of character for Crowborough.

Val Mummery, 59, who works in a shop close to Alisun, was unaware of the extent of the incident but heard the fracas in the morning.

She said: "I was just sitting down to have a cup of tea and I just heard a lot of screaming."

Similarly, workers in the nearby House of Pollen shop did not realise exactly what had happened, but were aware of an altercation of some kind.

A member of staff, who did not want to be named, said: "All I heard was an argument and the next thing the police had arrived."

Sgt Howard Neville praised the police officers on duty for their handling of the incident.

But he admitted this is not the kind of incident he has come to expect in Crowborough.

He said: "The offence was isolated and relatively minimal. However, it clearly impacted on the victim. We are not looking for anybody else in connection with the incident.

"It's not something that you would expect to happen in a community like this but these things do happen from time to time in isolation."