West End actor blinded after thug smashes through windscreen with metal object in random attack

A popular actor who has starred in plays and TV shows has been blinded in a horrific random attack as he was waiting at the traffic lights.

A West End star was blinded in his right eye after he was randomly attacked by an armed thug while waiting at traffic lights.

Mike Holoway, 63, needed stitches inside his eyeball after an attacker smashed through his van window with a metal object in Beckton, East London on the evening of December 18.

The actor, who is currently unable to work, told of his ordeal and revealed he needs three operations over nine months in a bid to save his sight.

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“It was 15 seconds of hell,” he told The Sun.

“If it wasn’t for the witness I don’t know if I would still be here.

“I was stationary and I heard banging on my door and pulling of the handle. He began screaming and shouting at me.”

Mike Holoway, 63, was randomly attacked in traffic. Picture: Supplied

Holoway, who starred as the main role in Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat for four years, suspects he was targeted in a brutal attempted robbery.

“This man smashed his fist through my side window, driver’s side window,” he said.

“Straight into my face, knocked me across to the passenger seat.

“I had to have metallic fragments pulled out of my face.

“You think you know how you can react in these situations. But I saw stars. I didn’t know what the hell was going on.

“By the time I picked myself up and got my momentum, I reached for my phone to take a picture of the reg plate, but he’d gone.

“It was quite a tall man, who looked Turkish, with short dark hair and eyes. He smashed straight through the window into my face.”

The West End actor has also starred in TV series. Picture: George Wilkes/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

It is believed the thug held a knuckleduster or small weighted object, which he took with him after being spooked by oncoming vehicles.

Holoway floored it and moved away from the scene, and was guided to safety by a witness named Bobby.

“Bobby was, as far as I’m concerned, the angel of the day,” he said. “He got me together and made sure I could get to hospital.”

Mike was rushed to A&E in Essex, where he stayed for more than seven hours for scans and tests.

He was then taken to Moorfields Eye Hospital in central London for surgery after initial findings showed extensive damage to his eye.

It is unknown how much sight the actor will be able to regain following the attack, casting serious doubts on the future of his career.

He faces a long road to recovery after his eye was extensively damaged. Picture: Supplied

The father-of-two, who also starred in cult TV series The Tomorrow People, now faces a long road to recovery.

“I’ve got to have a lens replacement,” he said.

“I’ve got to get a cornea donor. I’ve got to have a cornea replacement.

“My eye at the moment is being held together by six stitches.

“I’m on painkillers all day, every day for the first five weeks of it happening. It’s a bit of a blur. My wife Emma has been incredible.

“I have to say Moorfields, the team there, the specialists there, the nurses have been unbelievable, absolutely staggering. So they’ve saved my eye.”

He has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with his recovery, which has raised more than £5000 ($9880).

The Metropolitan Police has made no arrests.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as West End actor blinded after thug smashes through windscreen with metal object in random attack