Teenage thugs blind woman in laser pen attack

A WOMAN has been left blind in one eye after a laser pen was shone into her face.

Police have launched an investigation to find two teenage boys they think were responsible for the incident in Clydebank.

It happened as the 33-year-old woman walked under a railway bridge on Dumbarton Road, near the junction with Cable Depot Road, at about 10pm on Saturday, September 10.

Both boys are described as being white, aged about 14 or 15 and wearing dark-coloured sportswear.

One had brown hair in a quiff.

The woman was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for treatment and later reported the incident to police.

Det Sgt Kevin Mulvenna, of Police Scotland, said: “This was a completely unprovoked and senseless attack on this woman, which has left her blind in one eye.

“The youths responsible must be caught as soon as possible.

“To point a laser pen at someone is highly irresponsible.

“Extensive inquiries are ongoing to trace the two boys, with officers carrying out inquiries in the local area and studying CCTV footage to identify them.”

Anyone with any information is urged to contact police.

Laser pens and pointers are increasingly being viewed as a danger to the public.

And authorities have been criticised for failing to tackle the menace.

In February, the British Airline Pilots Association said they should be classified as an “offensive weapon”.

The call came after a New York-bound plane was forced to turn back to London Heathrow Airport when a laser beam hit the cockpit after take off, causing a “medical issue” for a pilot.

It is illegal to shine a light at a plane “so as to dazzle the pilot”, but not an offence to own or carry a laser.

The organisation want sales of all but the lowest-power devices to be regulated to cut down in the number of incidents.

In 2015, a man who targeted a Police Scotland helicopter with a laser pen was jailed for 12 months after detectives used thermal imaging equipment to locate him.

Craig Ryan, 23, shone the beam at the aircraft from his garden in Stevenston, Ayrshire, forcing the pilot to take evasive action.

In 2014 three men from Leicestershire were jailed for using laser pens to dazzle pilots coming in to land at East Midlands Airport.

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