I find this all a bit far fetched. Soho is not a quiet place of London!

He managed to just pass out by a bin all night?

No witnesses outside the club?

He got a taxi back to Walford in the morning and not thinking of getting the police?

He seemed a bit concussed so maybe he wasn't really thinking.

The kid never does, remember poor Hev?

This is true but you would think someone would at least have come up to him in the morning while he was looking like that.

How could he ask for help when he was not wearing his glasses

Oh fgs owen10 - you don't automatically go blind if you're not wearing glasses.

Ben may have trust issues with strangers on the street after what just happened though I suppose he could have asked for help from a female if he thought that was safer. Still, the poor guy was battered, bloodied, bruised and possibly concussed and had no phone or wallet - he probably just wanted to get home as soon as possible and walked back as taking a lift from a stranger is not safe for anyone.

Yes but it is soho..the streets would be full of people or he could walk into a shop/coffee place asking for them to call the police asap or an ambulance for himself! Or for someone to phone his mum.

A lot of people might be wary of somebody with blood streaming down their face, especially in the early hours of the morning. I worked in Soho for years (a lot of advertising agencies in that ares) and it can be a fairly unfriendly place with not as many people willing to help as you might imagine. I think a lot of people would. Just leave somebody they saw passed out if they were covered in blood, or he might not even have been seen - there are a lot of allleys and doorways in that area.

Didn't he say he passed out? If it was light when he came round, he probably just wanted to get home as quickly as possible - he did seem sure that Paul was going to be okay, have used Ben's money to get home. So that was his priority.

He might also have been slightly concussed so not thinking straight.

He walked all the way home as Paul had all his money, he didn't get a taxi back.

In fairness, if I lost my glasses or contacts, I'd probably be found two weeks later having wandered blindly onto some cobbles in Manchester. Or would have fallen into the canal.

He could have taken a taxi and got someone to pay for it in the Square. He could have stopped a number of policemen or asked for some change for the underground or just tried to push himself through the barrier as someone else infront touched their oyster car on the reader. It would have taken him hours to walk back from Soho to E20 - its 9.5 miles from Soho to Walthamstow and he was bleeding and concussed and didnt have his phone to use for navigation and no glasses.

There is more to the story

After I was mugged and beaten up I just wanted to get home as quickly as possible. Even though there was people around, I was shocked and scared and wary of asking for help. I didn't call the police until the morning and all I wanted to do was go home where I felt safe and secure.

I am not sure of the distance between Soho and Walford, I struggle with this, its surprising to me there are no police on duty around Soho, to pick up people drunk, or passed out behind the bins, and no matter how far it was for Ben to stumble home, why did no one stop him, not a cop, a TFL officer, some kind random stranger, commutes on the way to work, any number of people should have spotted him.

There may be homeless people sleeping rough in that area, no one wants anything to do with them.

true enough, but he didnt look homeless to me, he looked like he had been in a brutal beating, torn short, blood etc.

Homeless people look rough true, but most of the time their clothes whilst they maybe worn, they are not so clearly torn, and any homeless person with that much blood would go to a hospital.

I see what you are saying but I am still not convinced in the realism of it. He presumaby knew Paul was beaten up too and any human that I know where this would happen to them they would find any way to get help! Even if concussed and passed out - in the morning at least you would make more effort.

From what he said yesterday I don't think he did know that Paul had been beaten up too. He said they split agter seeing the thugs and if Ben thought most if not all of them went after him, he might have assumed that Paul had got away, especially as he had the money so could have hailed a cab.

Also, he just might not have been thinking straight.

I've never been beaten up) thank god) but I have had very late nights, into early hours or next morning nights in London and my priority probably would be getting home or somewhere safe as quickly as possible for my safety and also to start looking for anybody I'd been out with and lost track of (i'm old enough to have been working and clubbing in Soho pre mobile phones) rather than going into a Police Station or Hospital.

Just to add to it - what could he do in the morning? Try and find a police station which he is less likely to know the whereabouts of and he might find hard to find bloodied, possibly concussed and without his glasses. Ring 999. Which wouldn't be right as it wasn't an immediate emergency and also, hardly any phone boxes around now.

Offices, and people really would give somebody in that state a wide berth, even in the morning. It's horrible, but it's true.

If a patrol bobby had seen him they would probably have stopped him but firstly there are few patrolling bobby's around in London now and secondly they'd be as likely to assume he'd done somebody else harm as well.

Which would be another reason Ben, with his distrust of Police, wouldn't go there. He'd assume they5 detain him without looking for Paul so better to just get home.

It should be borne in mind that Soho to the the part of the EastEnd walforD is supposed to be is only about 5 or 6 miles so whilst not anything to be sneezed at, it isn't a huge distance for a generally fit 20 year old to undertake and manage in a couple of hours.

I can't help but think that Ben is letting on more than he's said or he was in cocked some way. It did cross my mind that maybe be turned on Paul to save himself, pretend he wasn't gay?

Seeing someone passed out in doorway is not particularly uncommon in London and the vast majority will walk by not wanting to get involved. It's sad but true, they would just assume he was a drunk or a druggie.

Exactly.

It may not say much for the humanitarian nature of people but generally, the potential risk that they will be violent due to drink or drugs, or are even pretending so they can grab your handbag or hurt you will stop most people from approaching them and seeing if they're okay.

I'm surprised no one stopped to help, he was in Soho and there would have been police about, there always are when pubs and clubs close and other clubbers would have stopped not everyone is heartless or scared. I know we would have and have done in the past. He was hardly out in the sticks he was in central London. We come back from London at all sorts of times of night and the place is crawlng with police in vans and cars(this is Islington, Kings Cross, Euston areas). When we used to go clubbing we drove through places like Smithfields and always saw police near Fabric.

I think it's really sad that people can and do walk past someone who is being beaten up or who has obviously been beaten up. It's a sad state and I would hope that they never need any help from passers by.

Remember he's deaf as well. Even if he made any effort to get help, only too likely anyone he asked would just back off at this incoherent bloodstained bloke staggering around. And why would he trust any stranger?