POLICE are reassuring residents that Trowbridge is not becoming a violent crime hot spot despite a fatal stabbing, a near-fatal stabbing and a brutal attack on a former town mayor taking place in the past few months.

Trowbridge town councillor Clive Blackmore, 63, suffered a bleed on the brain after being attacked by three men at around 2.50am on Friday when he was walking his black Labrador Dave in Pitman Avenue before he started his 4am postman shift.

“It was pretty terrifying. My eye completed closed up, I was unrecognisable. I am just lucky they did not have a weapon as it could have been so much worse,” said Mr Blackmore, who was town mayor back in 2010-11.

“It was a bit of a blur. I remember being taken to hospital and I had to stay overnight as the hospital staff had to give me a brain scan. I will be off work for the next two weeks and I cannot drive for three months but I am on the mend.

“It makes me wary to go outside at night but why should I give into people like this. You have to keep on living your life and I will do that.”

Although this was the third serious incident that has happened on the town’s streets, including the death of 24-year-old Jordan Taylor and the knife attack on 27-year-old Dan Brown, police sergeant Gill Hughes played down fears that violent crime is on the rise in Trowbridge.

“We are treating these attacks very seriously but I want to reassure people that there has not been an increase in violent crime,” she said.

“These are three separate incidents. There is not a big rise in crime within the Trowbridge area that would give us cause for concern.

“With the fatal stabbing, a man was arrested within a week, with the second incident the man was caught within 45 minutes and with this most recent one, a man was located within an hour.

“These are all quite unexpected incidents but have had a fantastic police response.

“There has been an increased presence of officers on the streets in light of the last few terrorist attacks, not necessarily for these incidents. We had a substantial amount after the fatal stabbing but that cannot be continued for a long period.

“If you can run or walk away from someone who has a weapon, do so as soon as you can and then call 999. We are liaising with schools to get this information out there but there is not a magic formula.”

A 20-year-old local man was arrested soon afterwards on suspicion of robbery but he has since been released under investigation by police. If you have information on the incident call 101.