A LECTURER who says his life was saved by police officers based just 200 yards from his home won a High Court battle to save his local police station yesterday.

Paul Kohler, 59, was brutally beaten by four men during a burglary in Wimbledon in August 2014 – the attack was only stopped when a police officer jumped on one of his assailants “just as he was about to bring a heavy wooden door down on [Mr Kohler’s] head.”

The plaintiff’s barrister David Wolfe QC said that “the only reason he survived the assault … is because the officers were able to get to his house so swiftly from Wimbledon police station,” just eight minutes after his daughter called the police.

Mr Kohler brought a legal challenge against London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac), which proposes to close 37 of the 73 police stations in the capital, arguing that the decision had been made in a “state of confusion and chaos.”

The High Court found that the decision to close Wimbledon police station was unlawful, as Mopac had failed to “consider the responses made as part of the consultation exercise” – but it held that the decision to close the other 36 police stations was lawful.

Lord Justice Lindblom and Mr Justice Lewis were, however, scathing in their criticism of the “incoherent and unhelpful” consultation, which was described by the Independent Consultation Institute as the “worst consultation of 2017.”

Mr Kohler said he was “delighted that the High Court agreed with me in holding that the mayor of London’s entire consultation was unsatisfactory” and he was “only sorry we did not have similar evidence in respect of the other police stations.”

He added: “In the circumstances, especially after yesterday’s news detailing the increase in crime, particularly violent crime, across the capital, I hope the mayor of London will take this opportunity to consider the matter afresh and revisit his decision to close all 37 police stations.”

A City Hall spokesman said: “The decision to close the counters is as a direct result of government cuts to the police budget since 2010, which has contributed to officer numbers dropping below 30,000 for the first time in 15 years.”