Darwen woman slashed by music shop raiders
9:00am Friday 22nd October 2010 in News
ORDEAL: Tracy Frankcom suffered a cut to her arm and other injuries
A FEMALE music teacher was slashed with a knife in an attempted robbery in Darwen town centre.
Tracy Frankcom, 40, who has just opened a new shop Arietta Music on Bridge Street, was inside the premises when two men walked in and attacked her, just after 9pm.
Police said they threatened her, demanded money, but left the shop empty-handed because there was no money in the premises.
There was a brief struggle and the woman suffered a cut to her arm and other minor injuries.
Tracy, who lives in Darwen, was taken to hospital and her injury was stitched up.
She said she is now afraid to be in the shop alone after dark.
“I’ve been teaching piano, keyboard, guitar and violin for 11 years in Deardengate, Haslingden and had finished there for the day and popped into the new shop in Darwen.
“The window shutters were down but I heard the chime of the door and these two men came in demanding money.
"I showed them the little cash box with nothing in it but they didn’t believe me and grabbed me.
“There was a scuffle, punches were thrown and then one pulled a knife and I got slashed.
“It was very frightening. I’m 5ft 3ins and they were bigger and stronger than me.
"Everything went in slow motion. I just tried to defend myself and it escalated.”
Tracy said extra security measures will be put in place, but added: “It is very worrying that there are people just walking the street looking for opportunities to rob people.”
The two men, are described as Asian, in their late 20s with Lancashire accents.
The first man is 6ft with slim build, stubble and dark clothes.
The second man has a rounder face and was of medium build and 5’9” tall wearing a dark hooded top and dark jeans.
They fled on foot along Bridge Street in the direction of Hardman Way.
Police are now studying CCTV in a bid to identify the men.
DC Jeff McCann, of Darwen CID, said: “These two men have threatened a lone woman, attempted to steal something and then walked out.
“They’ve got the potential to be dangerous and this was an unpleasant attack."
Comments(10)
excaliber
says...
10:59am Fri 22 Oct 10
Asian Lad
says...
11:12am Fri 22 Oct 10
.
I hope the two COWARDLY SCUM responsible for this are caught and given a long stint behind bars. What cowards picking on a woman on her own. Won't feel such the big hard men once their stuck behind bars with plenty of their own kind.
Temporarily overseas
says...
11:26am Fri 22 Oct 10
Ian_G
says...
12:49pm Fri 22 Oct 10
Society has deteriorated to such an extent that we now have a generation of filth who have no respect for themselves, other people or the law.
They have been 'brought up' in a time when their parents, their peers and everyone they know have no respect and where human rights win out over common sense meaning that the law is no deterrent to them.
To my mind, this has gone too far and nothing but the harshest sentences will suffice. If they don't respect the law, they should be made to FEAR the law!
happycyclist
says...
1:10pm Fri 22 Oct 10
Cue Music has been an established business in the town for years and it was good to see another music shop in town (smart location, near the Academy!). Stick with it and don't let the scum get to you. The Academy could do a lot worse than make music one of their priorities in a town like Darwen, where there is so much grassroots interest it.
Finger Bang
says...
2:13pm Fri 22 Oct 10
Don't get me wrong in an ideal world I'd have every last one of them locked up for serious jail time (10+ for this type of crime, double that if it's against the truly vunerable, i.e. the elderly). We don't live in a ideal world though, we can't lock serious criminals for more than 12 months it seems because we don't have the money.
Since we have to live in the real world, we have to be realistic and pragmatic - and being realistic we could drastically reduce crime like this by prescribing heroin to addicts. This has already been shown to work in trials carried out in this country.
Why aren't we at least giving it a go, because I don't know about you but I'm personally sick of reading about this kind of brazen and sickening behaviour by these addicts. Our current policies are not stopping this - the problem instead seems to be getting worse.
We can stop this happening though, or at least seriously reduce it, if we are adult and just do what actually works - regardless of the backlash from the Daily Mail etc. It would unfortunately mean our current politicians growing a pair first though.
britguy
says...
4:11pm Fri 22 Oct 10
Be nice if they caught them and applied a bit of that Sharia law that they are so keen to introduce into the UK.
happycyclist
says...
6:59pm Fri 22 Oct 10
Finger Bang wrote:I agree with you about the legalisation and control of hard drugs like heroin. It's GOT to be worth trying.
Let's be honest here, someone willing to take such risks to commit despicable crimes in this open way are almost certainly doing so for a fix to feed their heroin addiction.
Don't get me wrong in an ideal world I'd have every last one of them locked up for serious jail time (10+ for this type of crime, double that if it's against the truly vunerable, i.e. the elderly). We don't live in a ideal world though, we can't lock serious criminals for more than 12 months it seems because we don't have the money.
Since we have to live in the real world, we have to be realistic and pragmatic - and being realistic we could drastically reduce crime like this by prescribing heroin to addicts. This has already been shown to work in trials carried out in this country.
Why aren't we at least giving it a go, because I don't know about you but I'm personally sick of reading about this kind of brazen and sickening behaviour by these addicts. Our current policies are not stopping this - the problem instead seems to be getting worse.
We can stop this happening though, or at least seriously reduce it, if we are adult and just do what actually works - regardless of the backlash from the Daily Mail etc. It would unfortunately mean our current politicians growing a pair first though.
TeeJF
says...
6:35pm Wed 27 Oct 10
happycyclist wrote:Thank you so much for your kind comments and support. They really are appreciated and are a great help in being able to carry on :) Tracy.
I hope this doesn't put you off having a business in Darwen, Tracy. As you know, Darwen is a 'music town' with a lot of musicians and a lot of interest in music, and that can only be good for the town.
Cue Music has been an established business in the town for years and it was good to see another music shop in town (smart location, near the Academy!). Stick with it and don't let the scum get to you. The Academy could do a lot worse than make music one of their priorities in a town like Darwen, where there is so much grassroots interest it.
accyspud says...
9:51am Fri 22 Oct 10
I personally hope that the police throw all they can at catching and prosecuting the scum guilty of this henious crime.