Woman, 66, stabbed with pen in coach attack

The incident happened in Blackpool on 24 August with the pen puncturing the pensioner's skin

Cynthia Bell, 66, was attacked with a pen (PA)

A woman in her sixties was stabbed with a pen in a vicious attack on a coach, police have said.

Cynthia Bell, 66, from Durham, was helping her husband with his coach company at roughly 5pm on Sunday 24 August when a man boarded and refused to leave.

The coach was parked on Seasiders Way in Blackpool when the assailant, described as being in his late teens or early twenties, began “tampering with the controls around the driver’s seat”.

As Ms Bell tried to stop him, he grabbed a pen from the dashboard and stabbed her, with some force, in the arm.

He then fled the coach and ran down a “sloping path onto Chapel Street”, Lancashire Police have said.

He is described as being white, 6ft, stocky and with short dark hair, and was also accompanied by two young women.

“As you can see from Mrs Bell’s photograph, significant force must have been used by offender who stabbed her. She was lucky to have escaped without serious blood loss or any nerve damage,” Mark Dickinson from Blackpool CID said.

“We are pursuing a number of lines of enquiry including CCTV and forensic opportunities. I am particularly keen to identify and speak with two young women who were with the offender and I would ask them, or anyone who recognises them from their descriptions, to contact me as soon as possible.”

The two women are described as being white - one of whom was wearing a pink floral top, walked with a limp and was pushing a pram, while the other has blonde hair and was wearing a cream jumper.

Anyone with information is urged to contact police on 101 quoting log number 0979 of 24 August or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.