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| MP beaten unconscious near home | |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Police have launched an investigation after Labour MP Anne Moffat was attacked, BBC Scotland has learned. | Police have launched an investigation after Labour MP Anne Moffat was attacked, BBC Scotland has learned. |
| Ms Moffat said she was mugged by a gang of drunken youths and left with broken ribs while walking near her home in Cockenzie, in East Lothian. | |
| The East Lothian MP was knocked unconscious and her watch and jewellery taken by her attackers. | The East Lothian MP was knocked unconscious and her watch and jewellery taken by her attackers. |
| She was treated in hospital in Edinburgh after the incident on Friday and branded her attackers "scum". | |
| Police said they were looking for between four and six young men between 18 and 20-years-old. | Police said they were looking for between four and six young men between 18 and 20-years-old. |
| Ms Moffat, who has been recovering at home after also suffering cuts and bruises, told BBC Scotland the attack happened in the evening, while she was exercising on a popular coastal path. | |
| "I was doing a bit of running and a bit of walking and I heard a group of youths in front of me," she said. | "I was doing a bit of running and a bit of walking and I heard a group of youths in front of me," she said. |
| These people are just scum. Just nasty, horrible people getting fired up with drink and drugs and not realising what they're doing to people's lives Anne Moffat MP | |
| "I didn't see them but I heard them and I could tell that they were either high or drunk or they were very loud. | "I didn't see them but I heard them and I could tell that they were either high or drunk or they were very loud. |
| "I took my mobile phone out of my pocket and held on to it and when I came across them I realised they were really quite rowdy and could have been a bit of a threat, but I didn't think this much of a threat." | "I took my mobile phone out of my pocket and held on to it and when I came across them I realised they were really quite rowdy and could have been a bit of a threat, but I didn't think this much of a threat." |
| She added: "I veered to the side away from them and put my head down. The only thing I noticed was one of them was wearing a Celtic top. | She added: "I veered to the side away from them and put my head down. The only thing I noticed was one of them was wearing a Celtic top. |
| "The next thing I knew, they were all jostling about and I don't know if I was pushed or tripped or how it happened but I went down and I knocked my head on a boulder or a stone of some sort and I was knocked out." | "The next thing I knew, they were all jostling about and I don't know if I was pushed or tripped or how it happened but I went down and I knocked my head on a boulder or a stone of some sort and I was knocked out." |
| Ms Moffat said she did not know how long she had been unconscious, adding: "All I remember is just falling down and my head banging and then wakening up again." | |
| She was so disorientated, she was not able to call the emergency services and instead phoned the last person she had called on her mobile phone, a friend who called police and paramedics. | |
| Ms Moffat suffered several injuries, including broken ribs, in the attack | |
| "They took my gold chain and my good watch and my diamond stud earrings and I had a diamond ring on that they took," said Ms Moffat. | |
| "They obviously tried to get my bracelets off, not realising there is a clasp on them - but they're all scratched to bits." | |
| Ms Moffat said tearfully: "Its more the shock of it really. The injuries will heal." | |
| She went on: "Imagine if it was a frail, old lady. I don't know if she would have survived it. | |
| "These people are just scum. Just nasty, horrible people getting fired up with drink and drugs and not realising what they're doing to people's lives. | |
| "Its made me more aware of what it's like to be a victim." | |
| The MP said she did not think she had been targeted, saying of her attackers: "To be honest, I don't think they would know who I was. | |
| "I doubt if they'd be able to tell you their own names. I think they were really quite drunk." |