POLICE RESPONSE

When Mark Ward and his eight-year-old daughter were both assaulted outside their house, they did the right thing by immediately calling the police. But, despite the fact he had evidence of the incident, the phone number of an independent witness and regular sightings of the alleged attacker, the police have failed to make an arrest. To add insult to injury, three days elapsed before the police arrived to take a statement. Mr Ward claims that his daughter was punched in the face in an unprovoked attack by an older girl at the bottom of his driveway. When he approached the girl, who was with another girl and three boys, she verbally abused him before hitting him as well.

Mr Ward said, "I turned round to see my daughter crying because this girl had struck her in the face. I saw red and went up to the youths immediately. I said 'What are you doing? You can't just hit an eight-year-old girl for nothing'. She said 'I'm a 16-year-old girl and there's nothing you can do'. Then she hit me and cut my forehead, she must have been wearing a ring." Mr Ward was so angry he complained to his councillor, Chris Wynn, who promised to contact the police and Margaret Beckett, MP for Derby South. Mr Wynn said, "I refuse to believe that no action can be taken if the witnesses are prepared to testify to the assault. If necessary, I would help Mr Ward bring a private prosecution.".

Mr Ward said that a woman standing at a nearby bus stop gave him her phone number and offered to act as a witness. He said, "I still see the girl now, she walks past my house quite often. We could point her out to the police if they were here." When a police officer finally arrived, he was called back to the station early by his sergeant and, according to Mr Ward, his statement was not taken down properly as a result. "The officer's mobile was going the whole time," said Mr Ward. "When I asked if he had a bigger job to do, he just shrugged and apologised. "Because of this he was rushing it all through and I didn't get a chance to give him the full details."

Mr Ward said that he was considering a private prosecution against his attacker and also filing an official complaint against the police. Derbyshire police Divisional Commander Tony Hurrell said that he would be apologising to Mr Ward personally. He said, "We do get things wrong from time to time and, when we do, we need to be bold enough to face up to that. The incident was totally unacceptable and we are taking it seriously - but we need to be seen to be taking it seriously as well." Anyone with information should call the police on Derby 290100, but don't expect an immediate response.

Mr Wells' daughter, Charlotte, was cycling to her grandparents' home in Stocker Avenue, Alvaston, with sister Lauren and brother Simon at about 3.30pm when a gang struck as the trio crossed a playing field off Elvaston Lane, Alvaston. Mr Wells, of Tennyson Street, Allenton, said, "One of the lads threatened to cut Charlotte with a three-inch penknife blade. He then pulled her off her bike and threw her on the floor, causing cuts, bruises and gravel rash. The group then maliciously ripped apart her bike and used the knife to slash the tyres. They dumped it and ran off leaving the youngsters crying." Terrified and in tears, the youngsters made it to their grandparents' house, where Mr Wells was waiting for them.

When he heard what had happened, he took his father's camera and drove Charlotte around the area to photograph the main culprits before calling the police and describing his children's shocking ordeal. But an officer only turned up to speak to Mr Wells after the Evening Telegraph had contacted Derbyshire police to ask why he had been ignored. Mr Wells believes that one of the girls in the gang might have even been the culprit of the attack on Mr Ward that took place in nearby Kelmoor Road in Alvaston. He said, "It's an absolute disgrace. My daughter was attacked by a group of youths armed with knives and we have photographs of them, but the police have done nothing. I only live about three minutes' walk from Cotton Lane police station, yet no-one seems bothered about a malicious assault on an 11-year-old girl."

Derbyshire police Divisional Commander Tony Hurrell said that he had apologised to Mr Wells' family personally. "I will carry out a personal review of how we deal with pending jobs, particularly the ones involving assaults. We now have to work hard to repair the loss of confidence in the police by ensuring this never happens again. There's no excuse." he said.

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