Argument heard at time of attack

AN ARGUMENT was heard around the time a 30-year-old man was attacked with a meat cleaver in Ipswich today.

The shouts were picked up by residents living in a cul-de-sac off Cambridge Drive.

The assault happened early today near the dead end which is part of Cambridge Drive. People in the area said they frequently hear arguments near their homes.

As he set off for work this morning Cambridge Drive resident Matthew Curtis, 21, was shocked to hear of the attack.

He said: "It's terrible thing to happen. It doesn't make you feel safe in your own home. It's not the sort of thing you want to wake up and hear has been going on."

Another resident who did not want to be named, said: "I had a restless night and heard shouting.

"There are always people out there, but I did wonder what was going on so I looked out of the window. It was very dark there, compared with the lights near the houses, but I did see some people at the bottom of the steps."

She added: "To be truthful, I have heard more vicious arguments than happened last night."

Mother-of-four Alison Dixon said her daughter, whose bedroom faces the scene, heard police cars and an ambulance arriving at about 2am.

She said: "I was quite worried that it might have been a murder. I am very concerned because it happened so close to home.

"The violence round here is getting horrendous – there was a knifing outside the Cambridge Road shops last year. We often hear shouts and screams and sometimes it's serious, sometimes it isn't.

"I've been here three years and if we could get a house exchange we would. We used to live in Cromer Road just doors away from the pub and there was never any trouble like this.

"It does worry me. I don't let my seven-year-old daughter out to play unless the older ones are with her.

Her childminder Louise Blackman, 18, who also lives nearby, said: "I know a lot of people round here and I just hope the man who was hurt is not someone I know."