Charlotte JonesA SCHOOLGIRL has been left bruised and battered after she was subjected to a 10-minute beating by a gang of girls.

Charlotte Jones was punched and kicked. The girls had also removed their shoes and beaten their victim with them.

The attack has left Charlotte with a broken finger and severe bruising on her body.

She described the ordeal as terrifying.

Now her mother has banned her three children from going into the town centre at night after the attack, which happened outside the Brunel Rooms nightclub.

The Kingsdown School pupil was on her way home from a teenage disco when a gang of six girls launched into the attack.

"While I was being attacked I kept think that I was going to get seriously hurt it was really terrifying," said Charlotte of Hathaway Road, Upper Stratton.

"I've been going to the disco for three years and nothing like this has happened before.

"I don't want to go anymore because I'm worried that if they see me again they'll do something else."

The fight first broke out inside the town centre club when Charlotte refused to budge as one of the girls tried to push past.

After being punched during the scuffle, her boyfriend, Anthony Roebuck, 15, stepped in to break it up.

But he was not around when Charlotte left with a friend at the end of the Teenage Kicks disco.

At about 10.35pm on Wednesday, the same girl and five others attacked Charlotte again near Sainsbury's supermarket and held her friend back so she could not help.

After the gang ran off, Charlotte, who was bleeding from the head, was taken to the Great Western Hospital for treatment.

Charlotte's mother Terri said: "Thankfully, she's all right but she could have had a major head injury and could have walked around the corner and collapsed and died."

Now, the 38-year-old is refusing to let her daughter and two sons, Nathan, 13, and Connor, 10, into the town centre after dark.

"It's a no-go area at night it's bad enough in the day," she said.

The attack has been reported to Swindon Police and officers have seized CCTV tapes in a bid to catch the culprits.

Acting Inspector Ian Stevenson said: "It was a serious assault. It must have been a terrifying incident for her. We will continue to investigate it to the best of our ability."

Brunel Rooms managing director Stephen Reid declined to comment.

Anyone with information can phone Swindon Police 01793 528111.

Ben Payne