A GANG of up to 30 drunken teenagers kicked a former policewoman unconscious after she challenged their behaviour on a tram.

Julie Pickford, 47, was attacked after telling a young boy to stop throwing popcorn at passengers on a Metrolink service to Altrincham.

A girl punched her in the face and a mob of up to 30 teenagers joined in, punching and stamping on the mother-of-two.

Mrs Pickford, who has a black belt in karate, was powerless to stop the ferocious attack and briefly blacked out.

With blood streaming from her injuries and £50 stolen from her handbag, she was thrown off the tram by the gang at Brooklands station near Sale with the mob still hurling abuse.

She was taken to Trafford General Hospital with a suspected fractured eye socket, a cut lip, bruising and grazes.

Passing blood

Mrs Pickford, who runs a commercial property firm, was discharged the next day but went back to hospital after she began passing blood because of suspected kidney damage.

It is believed the gang may have been attending an illegal rave in Sale on Friday night.

The attack had chilling echoes of the murder of Garry Newlove, who was kicked to death, also aged 47, for challenging a gang of thugs outside his Warrington home last year.

Mrs Pickford, a former Pc in Manchester, said: "I'm an innocent member of the public and they were a pack of animals.

"I'm a fit and healthy woman. Had it been someone a bit older it could have been another Garry Newlove. Those idiots could easily have kicked somebody to death."

Police have arrested a girl, 14, on suspicion of assault. She has been released on bail.

The incident follows several months of terror by gangs of up to 100 around the Altrincham interchange where police and transport staff have been at full stretch every Friday and Saturday night dealing with disorder.

Coun Roger Jones, of Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, has ordered an inquiry into the attack and recent trouble on the network.