John Kirkup who is the victim of abuse Picture Ref: 78693-78A WHEELCHAIR user says he is unable to enjoy a night out in the town because drunks see him as an easy target for abuse.

Former bouncer John Kirkup, 43, used to lead an active life and worked on the doors of Swindon's pubs and clubs when he moved to the town from Manchester six years ago.

But an accident in his other job as a warehouse worker four years ago left him unable to walk.

Now Mr Kirkup, of Lynmouth Road, Rodbourne, says he has had enough of drunken revellers who target him with their alcohol-fuelled abuse.

"I go out on weekends when I can," he said. "Recently though I have started to wonder why I bother making the effort."

Mr Kirkup, who lives alone and has a carer visit him seven days a week, says he has been the victim of four separate incidents in the last four months.

In one attack in May he was punched in the head as he made his way to a taxi by a man who had been thrown out of the Reflex bar on Fleet Street.

"We're not talking kids here," he said. "I asked this man to let me past and the next thing I know he hit me in the head."

On Saturday a group of four men threw a bottle at Mr Kirkup, narrowly missing his head, as he returned home from an evening at Studio nightclub.

"I heard it fly past me," he said. "I turned and these people were just laughing at me.

"The bottle had smashed against a wall at the side of me.

"All they were doing was giving me abuse and I said to them 'why don't you pick on someone who can stand up?' and they just laughed."

Mr Kirkup says the abuse is all the harder to take because as a bouncer he used to deal with yobs with ease.

"Until my accident I was fit and I was active. Everything was going well," he said.

"It makes me angry because I used to be able to deal with thugs and hooligans.

"I used to train people to protect themselves, so to be in this situation I find very frustrating."

And he says there is no excuse for the number of unprovoked attacks he has been subjected to. "I think they are scum," he said.

"What kind of human being would do these things? Their actions are mindless."

Swindon police spokeswoman Alvina Kumar said any victim of harassment or abuse should contact the police.

"All incidents that are reported to us are investigated fully.

"We take harassment of any kind extremely seriously and we would urge any victim of crime to report it to the police," she added.

Gareth Bethell