16448/03A POLICE hunt for witnesses to an assault that left a Trowbridge man fighting for his life has led to many people coming forward to help.

The Wiltshire Times joined Wiltshire Police to try to find people with potentially vital information about an assault on 32-year-old Asa Freeman in Silver Street.

On Saturday night, exactly a week after the attack that left Mr Freeman with life-threatening head injuries, police set up a mobile station in Silver Street to identify possible witnesses caught on CCTV.

As a result, all of the 13 people pictured on camera footage were identified and will be interviewed.

Posters produced by the Wiltshire Times were displayed around the town and have been taken to pubs and clubs.

Det Insp Matt Jones, who led the operation, said: "We had a positive response from the public. The majority of people were willing to look at the pictures of the witnesses we were trying to identify and we did get some names."

It is thought around 500 people in the town between 10pm on Saturday and 3am on Sunday looked at footage of people entering the nearby Snooker Club around the time of the incident.

Twenty officers from north and west Wiltshire were in the town, talking to people and asking them to look at the footage, and stills taken from it, before filling out a questionnaire.

DI Jones said: "Anniversary visits are used regularly in incidents of this nature and are quite successful."

Lee Gallagher, 24, was one of those who stopped to look at the CCTV footage.

He said: "I didn't know anyone but I think it is a good way of finding people. I was shocked by what happened."

Lucy Bailey, 19, also stopped to help the police, although she could not identify anyone from the footage.

She said: "I don't go out in Trowbridge a lot but if you do, because they are small towns around here, you will see a lot of the same people."

The footage was provided by the Snooker Club. Its staff were among the first on the scene and gave first aid to Mr Freeman.

Oliver Thomas, manager at the Silver Street club, said: "We are trying to give the police as much help as possible. My customers have been happy to help and every member of staff that worked last Saturday has been interviewed and co-operative.

"Asa is a very popular figure in the town and people want to see justice being done," he said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room on (01380) 735735 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.