Man stabbed in head with sword as battle re-enactment goes wrong
The 37-year-old was wearing body armour, but was stabbed through his visor.
He was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton in a serious condition following the incident, which took place at Bodiam Castle, near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, on Sunday.
'Police are appealing for witnesses after a man was injured during a living history demonstration at Bodiam Castle on Sunday afternoon (June 29),' a Sussex Police spokesman said.
'A 37-year-old man, from Horsham, was wearing body armour when his opponent re-enactor's sword entered his visor during a combat re-enactment just before 3pm.
'He suffered a head injury and he is currently in a serious condition at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.'
Detective Inspector Barry Chandler said: 'A man was unfortunately injured during the combat re-enactment.
'We are treating the incident as an accident and we are offering support to his family. His opponent, a 36-year-old man also from Horsham, and the organisers are helping us with our inquiries.
'We know the re-enactment had drawn a large crowd and understand that anyone who witnessed the scene could have found this distressing.
'We are appealing to anyone who has photographs or videos of the interaction that led to the injury to contact us so we can gain a clear understanding of what happened.'
Bodiam Castle, a National Trust property, is a 14th-century moated castle with a ruined interior. It has spiral staircases, battlements and a portcullis.
It was built around 1385 by Sir Edward Dallingridge and his wife Elizabeth, according to the National Trust website.
'Our thoughts and concerns are with the injured man, his family and friends,' a National Trust spokeswoman said.
'The safety and wellbeing of everyone on site is extremely important to us, and we are co-operating fully with the relevant authorities. As this is a police matter, we are unable to comment further.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Jess Phillips: Nigel Farage putting 'clicks for his monetised social media accounts' over children's safety
Nigel Farage is putting "clicks for his monetised social media accounts" over children's safety, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has claimed. Ms Phillips accused Reform UK's leader of never worrying "about anything but likes and clicks" and being indifferent towards victims' views on the Online Safety Act, which came into force in July. This comes a week after Mr Farage likened the new rules to "state suppression of genuine free speech", and said his party would ditch the regulations. New rules - which came into effect on 25 July - include introducing age verification for adult websites, and ensuring algorithms do not harm children by exposing them to such content when they are online. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said that those who wanted to overturn the act were "on the side of predators" like Jimmy Savile - to which Mr Farage demanded an apology, calling Mr Kyle's comments "absolutely disgusting". Mr Kyle has refused to retract or apologise for his statement, and Ms Phillips voiced her agreement with his comments, saying that "stronger safeguards" were needed to protect children. "That's why the Online Safety Act exists - to try to provide that basic minimum of protection and make it harder for paedophiles to prey on children at will. And we can't afford to wait," Ms Phillips wrote in The Times. The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls warned that police have uncovered networks of paedophiles who "coerced and blackmailed" children using "normal websites where their parents assume they're safe". She added that children themselves were also committing abuse, with half of recorded child sex offences last year where police know the age of the perpetrator being committed by 10 to 17-year-olds. 5:23 Ms Phillips wrote: "We need to ask, why are so many teenage boys now abusing their fellow children? "Perhaps Nigel Farage doesn't worry about that - there's no political advantage in it, and no clicks for his monetised social media accounts. But I do." A Reform source told The Times in response that Labour was "desperately embarrassing themselves with idiotic statements". The Online Safety Act, which was passed in 2023, requires online platforms such as social media sites and search engines to take steps to prevent children from accessing harmful content such as pornography or material that encourages suicide. Failure to comply with the new rules could incur fines of up to £18m or 10% of a firm's global turnover, whichever is greater.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
My teenage daughter talks in therapy speak all the time
Q. I'm struggling with how to parent my 17-year-old daughter. She's started accusing me of being 'toxic', 'emotionally manipulative' and even 'gaslighting' her. These are big words with big meanings and they come out in heated moments — when I ask about her plans, offer advice or challenge her on things like school or screen time. I've always tried to be a loving, involved parent. We've had our clashes, like any mum and teenage daughter, but this feels different. The words she uses come straight from therapy speak online and it's as if she's diagnosing me with something every time we argue. I feel silenced; anything I say could be used against me. I've also become anxious about setting any boundaries with her, especially since a close friend of mine has been completely cut off by her daughter. I'm terrified the same thing could happen to me.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Government pledges extra £100m funding to tackle people smuggling
The Home Office has announced £100m in extra funding as part of efforts to crack down on illegal people smuggling in the English money will pay for up to 300 additional National Crime Agency (NCA) officers as well as new technology and than 25,000 people made the journey from France to the UK in small boats before the end of July, a record for this point in the Secretary Yvette Cooper said the move would help the UK better "track the [smuggling] gangs and bring them down". The Conservative Party called it a "desperate grab for headlines which will make no real difference". Last month, the government agreed a "one in, one out" pilot scheme with France which aims to deter migrants from crossing the Channel. Under the scheme, some arrivals would be returned to France and in exchange the UK would accept an equivalent number of asylum seekers, subject to security to the Home Office, the new £100m will boost border security and strengthen investigations targeting smuggling kingpins who have operations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Cooper said gangs had shown a "a ruthless ability to adapt their tactics and maximise their profits, no matter how many lives they put at risk".The NCA has 91 ongoing investigations into people-smuggling networks affecting the UK, the agency's director general of operations Rob Jones said. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Labour of having "no serious plan" to tackle the issue."The British public deserves real action, not empty slogans and tinkering at the edges," he in the Daily Express, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said it was an effort to "throw taxpayer money at the illegal immigration crisis and hope it will go away"."Another £100 million here or there won't move the needle. It won't stop the boats or the gangs," he and previous Conservative governments have both struggled to reduce the number of people coming to the UK illegally in small Conservatives had proposed sending arrivals to Rwanda, but the scheme was delayed by legal challenges. The general election was called before it could be of Sir Keir Starmer's first acts as prime minister was to scrap the plan, calling it a another measure, which was revealed on Sunday, people advertising illegal Channel crossings online could face up to five years in prison under a new offence the government plans to illegal immigration to the UK is already a crime, but officials believe the new offence would give police and other agencies more power to disrupt criminal would criminalise the creation of material for publication online which promotes or offers services that facilitate a breach of UK immigration would include people using social media to advertise fake passports or visas, or the promise of illegal work opportunities in the UK, and as well as jail time could carry a large fine.
