Defiant musician knocked down by thief speaks about his ordeal

Paul Swindells, 24, of Walton-le-Dale, was working for company Countrywide Signs on Erskine Close, Bolton, at around 12.50pm last Saturday when the thief ran him over and trapped him under the van.

Paul, who plays for rock and roll band Dennis Delight and heavy metal band Sinnergod, was freed by firefighters.

The defiant musician thanked people for their support and said: “ I have most certainly been better, that’s for sure, but I’m not critically ill, I can do a lot of things for myself.

“My will power is much stronger than my body.

“The whole thing was over in seconds, and it wasn’t until I’d been dragged several feet on the road, and had my body pulverised by the weight of the van that I realised what had happened.

“ I was just expecting to get up and carry on with my days work, but found I couldn’t move from my neck down.

“I’ve come to realise just how close I was to not making it - after the third time of him driving over me I was thinking my body can’t take much more. I remember screaming ‘Stop’.

“I’ve been told I could be in hospital for a while, they couldn’t give an estimate, I just need to wait it out and focus on getting back healthy.

“I had the skin on my chest and back scraped off, it’s being treated like burns.”