A MUM has said how the screams of her infant daughter “will never leave her” after thugs attacked their family vehicle in Thornbury while they were asleep inside.

Parents Natalie and Tom Chisnell were forced to watch in horror as attackers smashed a window in their family camper van, raining down glass onto their three-year-old daughter Bella’s head.

The couple, from Charfield, had been spending the night with their two children in the vehicles on Thornbury’s Mundy Playing Fields after Saturday’s charity family festival, when it was attacked.

As family to the organisers, they had helped with the event and had decided to camp out in the vehicle, with Tom and Natalie in the back with one-year-old Ethan, while a pull-out bed was made for Bella across the front seats.

Confused by sounds of banging from outside at 3.15am, Natalie was woken to the startling realisation that someone was trying to break in, as she saw the face of an unfamiliar young man in a hoodie staring through the back window while trying to open the door.

“I was scared to death, seeing a face through the window,” said Natalie, who had turned to try and wake her husband. “There was literally someone stood right there in front of me trying to force their way in.”

Seconds later the front driver-side window was smashed into pieces, right above where Bella was sleeping.

“It all happened so fast,” she said. “My heart was in my stomach when the window went through because I knew Bella’s head was right there.

“Her screams when she woke up were horrific, for as long as I live that sound will never leave me.”

Fortunately the majority of the glass was deflected by a mirror protector in the van, allowing Natalie to drag her daughter to safety, where they hid with Ethan as Tom ran out of the camper van to chase the culprits.

But by the time he had exited the vehicle, he only saw one person disappear into the darkness, and returned moments later to check on his family.

The couple then called the police, who arrived around 20 minutes later, discovering a mallet on the floor near the smashed window, taken from one of the nearby awnings, which is believed to have been the tool used to do the damage.

Natalie said: “It is disgusting that someone could actually do something like this, it makes me feel physically sick.

“You just don’t feel safe in that situation and you should never have to feel like that.”

Police have said they are investigating the incident and have asked for anyone with information that could help with their inquiries to come forward and call 101 immediately, quoting reference 5217167978.