Hotel manager stabbed at Alton Towers after being mugged outside charity ball
- Ian Stevenson was stabbed twice in the leg in an employee car park
- He was working at an annual 'Pink Tie Ball' in aid of a cancer charity
- Hotel manager was rushed to hospital and is now said to be 'doing OK'
- 500 Girl Guides camping in Alton Towers grounds were evacuated
- Police are yet to find the assailant and no arrests have been made
A hotel manager was stabbed outside a charity ball at the Alton Towers Resort as he made his way to his car.
Witnesses said Ian Stevenson stumbled into a hotel foyer with blood pouring from two leg wounds.
He was taken to hospital as police descended on the complex, where an annual 'Pink Tie Ball' was being staged in a hotel function room to raise money for a cancer charity.
The duty manager is thought to have just finished a shift at the Alton Towers hotel - one of two hotels which make up the resort alongside a water park, spa and the main theme park.
Ball guests were prevented from leaving the site for more than an hour, as a police helicopter joined the search for the assailant.
Around 500 Girl Guides were camping in the theme park grounds when the incident began shortly before 11pm on Saturday. They were moved to a 'secure location' as a precaution.
Mr Stevenson, from Stoke-on-Trent, has been discharged from hospital and is recovering at home from his ordeal.
A relative yesterday said: 'Ian is doing OK but we don't want to say any more at the moment.'
One source who had been at the hotel on Saturday said: 'There was a lot of wealthy people at the ball - it is staged every year and attracts lots of local business people.
'Apparently the hotel manager came in to the hotel asking for help.
'He said he had been mugged and then stabbed. He was covered in blood and then he collapsed. He was bleeding badly from his leg.' The source said police arrived and prevented anyone from leaving the site for more than an hour.
News of Saturday night's incident spread to Twitter yesterday. Local teenager Laura Heath, who said she had friends who worked at the theme park, wrote: 'A duty Manager got stabbed in the leg and mugged.towers are kicking off cause(sic) everyone knows'.
Emma Carpenter, the mother of a Girl Guide from Herefordshire who had been camping overnight at the park, tweeted that parents had been notified of an 'incident' by text and said the girls had been 'put in a secure room'.
Volunteer fundraiser Ada Haywood, 62, who organised the Pink Tie Ball, said: 'We were in the function room where the ball was being staged when somebody came in and said police were preventing people from leaving because there had been an incident. The ball was still in full swing and I thought it could be one of our guests involved.
'I went outside to investigate but the staff were in control and told us not to worry.' She said staff from local company JCB were amongst the 340 guests. The event raised in the region of £20,000 for Cancer Research UK.
A spokesman for Alton Towers said: 'We can confirm that an Alton Towers Hotel team member was assaulted last night whilst returning to his car in the employee car park. He is now recovering at home. The police attended the incident and we continue to help them with their enquiries.'
A Staffordshire Police spokesman said the force was alerted at 10.50pm to a report of a male member of staff being assaulted in a car park.
A statement added: 'A search of the area involving a police dog and the force's helicopter took place. No arrests were made.
'The victim, in his 40s, received hospital treatment and is now at home.'
Anybody with information was asked to contact Staffordshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 871.
