Police question motorists over attempted murder of OAP

Mary Coulter, 76, suffered two broken arms, serious head injuries and major cuts to her face when she was attacked by four men who forced their way into her home in Overtown, Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, last Thursday.

Detectives have branded the unprovoked attack on the elderly woman “mindless” and “horrific”, and said she was lucky to be alive.

A £5,000 reward has been offered to help catch the group, who kicked in the front door of her home in Overdale Place at about 5.20am.

One week on from the incident, Strathclyde Police stopped drivers and pedestrians and spoke to them at around the same time the violent assault occurred.

They carried out the exercise between 4.45am and 5.45am today in an effort to help jog people’s memories and trace witnesses at key routes in and out of the street where the incident happened.

Mrs Coulter - a mother of six, grandmother and great-grandmother - remains in hospital in a stable condition.

She was attacked in the hallway of the property with a bladed weapon and what is thought to have been a bat.

As she tried to escape, Mrs Coulter made her way out on to the street where the men chased and continued to assault her. They ran off only when her screams alerted neighbours.

Mrs Coulter is the mother and grandmother of two men, Ronnie and Andrew Coulter, who were cleared of killing waiter Surjit Singh Chhokar in 1998.

Police have said they do not believe there is any link between the unsolved murder and the attack.

Crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers is offering a reward of up to £5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the people responsible for Mrs Coulter’s attack.

Officers have said the attack was not a robbery and are trying to work out why she was targeted. They believe she was not the intended victim of the attack.