A TEENAGE boy accused of a vicious group attack on a care worker has claimed he was attacked first.

The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told a jury that Alan Willson grabbed him and started hitting him with a log.

He said the attack started after the boys were involved in a row with an 11-year-old over a frisbee.

Mr Willson, 46, suffered life changing head injuries when he was beaten with a heavy, blunt object.

He suffered face, skull and brain injuries and will never speak again.

Harry Furlong, 18, from Horsham, and two other boys deny causing grievous bodily harm with intent at the park in Worthing on Easter Sunday last year.

The Argus: Alan Willson suffered life changing head injuries when he was beaten with a heavy, blunt object Alan Willson suffered life changing head injuries when he was beaten with a heavy, blunt object

The 15-year-old told Lewes Crown Court that Mr Willson grabbed him in a headlock after finding the three boys in the park.

“All I know is I’m being held and being screamed at and being attacked with a log,” he told a jury. “He’s pulled my head in and he was hitting me with the log on my leg in a stabbing motion.

“I wanted to get out of the sight of this mad man that was screaming his head off at a bunch of kids.”

The boy said he punched Mr Willson more than three times until he was released from the headlock.

“I just punched until he let go,” he said.

He went home and changed his jumper before heading to a train station, he told the court.

The jury have been shown CCTV from train station cameras of the boys soon after Mr Willson was injured.

The 15-year-old denied bragging to a group of girls on the station platform.

The boy said the video showed him full of adrenaline, fear and relief as he was re-enacting how Mr Willson attacked him.

“What I look like on the outside and feel on the inside are two different things,” he said.

Asked by Gemma White for the prosecution how he felt watching the video now, the boy said: “It’s a bit stupid. Should have stayed at home. Little things that shouldn’t have happened.”

The trial continues.