A man who was badly beaten by burglars in his own home will take his fight against plans to close half of London’s police stations to the High court.

Paul Kohler, 58 who was left with severe facial injuries after the terrifying raid on his home in 2014, has been granted a judicial review of proposals to shut 38 of the capital’s 73 police front counters.

He believes that the only reason he survived the brutality is because police officers were able to get to his house from the local station in Wimbledon within eight minutes of the 999 call made by his daughter.

The proposals, brought in as the Met faces spending cuts of £400 million by 2021 are expected to save £8 million and raise another £165 million from the sale of police buildings.

The London Mayor's office said only 8% of crimes were reported to police front counters in 2016, down from 22% in 2006.

Mr Kohler said: “The police stations should be kept open as we have already seen police numbers go down in London over the last two years.

“Removing police from the community has had a terrible effect.

“The idea of leaving Wimbledon with no police station apart from in Mitcham is crazy. There are various things the Mayor could have done and should have done.

“I agree that the Mayor is not at fault for the actual cuts, but I am blaming him for a total failure of imagination to address the issue of closing local police stations.”

The challenge to the front counter closures is based on a claim that the public consultation over the plans was legally flawed because not enough information was given to the public, and their responses were not properly considered.

Mr Kohler is crowdfunding his legal battle, with the judicial review due to be heard in June.

Mr Kohler said: “We have not won yet, we will have the hearing but the Mayor knows he has a case to answer because of the poor consultation.

"In our proposal we suggested various ideas including selling both stations in the borough and keeping satellite stations in Wimbledon and Mitcham and the main station in the middle of the borough, which would have been a way to keep officers in the community"

His solicitor Tessa Gregory from Leigh Day, said: “Our client believes the public consultation was inadequate and unlawful. In the interests of all Londoners he is pleased that a judge will now consider the legality of the original decision.”

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime said following legal advice it did not object to the application for a judicial review “in order to draw this matter to a close as quickly as possible”.

It said it is “committed to robustly defending these claims and the consultation process.”

You can find Paul’s petition by clicking here.