A TERRIFIED mother protected her children when two men leapt into her car and started to attack each other with a baseball bat.

Christa Harrison had stopped at the traffic lights at the junction of Poole Road and Queen's Road with her three young children in the back when a man forced open the car door.

Another man, armed with a baseball bat, then wrenched the door open and started violently attacking the first man, placing the children at serious risk, according to the mother-of-three.

Christa, 32, said: “One man came running towards the car with a bottle in his hand, got into the car, lay across my three kids and then yelled at me to drive.

“I screamed at him to get out and then another man who was chasing after him with a baseball bat also forced open the door and started violently hitting him.

“I was terrified and it was absolute chaos, but I tried to fight the two men off and drag my kids out of the car.”

The three children, four-year-old Carys, seven-year-old Emrys and 10-year-old Bronwyn, escaped unhurt from the incident which took place around 5.50pm on Monday December 23.

Police attended the incident and reported that there was an altercation between four males at the junction and one tried to seek refuge in a stationary car at the traffic lights.

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: “The driver of the car and a member of the public intervened and the males left the location. However, the incident was distressing for the occupants of the car.”

Ward councillor Barry Goldbart said: “I am absolutely shocked. It sounds like a dreadful incident which frightened that family to death.”

Witnesses or anyone with information should contact Dorset Police on 101 quoting incident number 23-501.