SCOTTISH actress-turned-critic Kate Copstick was attacked in a London street at the weekend by muggers who stole £8500 saying she thought "they were going to kill me".
The 66-year-old, who had a long TV career hosting and featuring in children's shows in the 1980s, has spoken out after the incident on Saturday night that left her "bruised and battered".
As police investigate the incident, an appeal has gone out to replace the stolen funds that were going to charity work.
Ms Copstick said she had been in the process of taking home the money from the charity shop she runs in Shepherd's Bush, ahead of flying to Kenya to help women in need via her charity Mama Biashara.
A spokeswoman for Ms Copstick said yesterday: "Last night, as Kate was walking home, she was attacked by two men in balaclavas, who grabbed her, put her in a chokehold, and when she screamed out, kicked her in the back of the leg, causing her to fall to the ground.
"They ripped open her backpack, and leaving her phone and purse on the floor, took only the envelope of cash and ran."
Mama Biashara works with "the poorest and most marginalised people in Kenya", giving grants to set up small, sustainable businesses that bring financial independence and security.
Ms Copstick, who appeared on children's TV shows Playschool and No. 73 in the 1980s, and ChuckleVision in the 1990s, was a Perrier Comedy Award judge in 2003 and 2004 at the Edinburgh Fringe, now works as a critic, but also set up the charity in 2008.
She had been due to travel to Kenya today to provide funds to help a group of women fleeing female genital mutilation, forced marriage and extreme violence and was taking physical money having experienced issues accessing finances from UK banks in the past, she said.
The Glasgow-born actress, who previously studied law at the University of Glasgow, added: “I was walking home, it wasn’t very late and the street I live on is very well lit, I heard running behind me and turned to see the kind of outfit you only normally see in TV dramas – someone dressed head-to-toe in black, with a full face balaclava.
"He grabbed for my bag and I began to scream and shout for help, he put me in a chokehold and suddenly a second man – dressed exactly the same – appeared.
"I thought they were going to kill me. They kicked me to the ground, took the money and ran. I live in a not-posh area of Shepherd’s Bush – there is crime, there are muggings, but it’s generally kids looking to steal a few quid – not full-grown men essentially dressed like ninjas. They didn’t take anything else, which sadly means I was very likely targeted, and that someone knew I would be carrying a significant amount of charity cash with me. I’m talking to the police about that now.”
Of the work the charity does, she said: “We are a very small charity, and whilst that comes with challenges of its own, it also means we are able to work on the ground, because we are known and trusted, we can access people in a way the bigger charities are not able to.
"The work we do saves lives, and saves people from a life of misery. We have women and girls in hiding, waiting to be rescued, if we can’t raise the money fast, they are in significant danger of being found and returned to the people who will hurt them.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help replace the funds she was going to take to Kenya.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here