Family ‘in hiding’ after ‘racist school attack’ branded ‘neighbours from hell’
In the wake of Monday’s brutal school gates attack on a young girl neighbours say a “nightmare” family alleged to be behind the racially-motivated assault have “gone into hiding”.
On the afternoon of Monday, February 7, a black teenager was beaten and kicked during what police have described as a “violent altercation” outside Thomas Knyvett College in Ashford, Surrey.
Four people were subsequently arrested on suspicion of attempted racially aggravated grievous bodily harm, including a 39-year-old woman, a 16-year-old girl and two 11-year-old girls.
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People living in nearby Stanwell claim to have have identified the four suspects and told reporters that locals are “terrified” of a woman in her 30s and three daughters.
They claim the “nightmare neighbours” have been responsible for a series of intimidating and antisocial acts, and that they’re glad the family has “gone into hiding”.
Locals who gathered to protest against the “racist” assault who held a rally outside the school on Wednesday later marched to a home in Stanwell, just under two miles away.
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One local told the Daily Mail: “They really are the neighbours from hell. There are people here who just want to move because they have had enough. They can’t take it any more.
“People are terrified of them,” they added. “We just hope they never come back.”
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(Image: Thabo Jaiyesimi/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock)
Another local, whose daughter is a pupil at Thomas Knyvett, added: “People are scared and intimidated by them. There have been so many run-ins and the police have been called.
“It’s just been one thing after another and people don’t feel safe. No-one wants to speak out about them because we have our children to think about.
“They come from a big family and they are everywhere around here. They have eyes everywhere. The whole situation is awful. The whole thing is wrong”.
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(Image: Thabo Jaiyesimi/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock)
Chief Inspector Dallas McDermott, of Surrey Police, said he had seen the widely-circulated video of the attack, and was appalled by the brutality on show: “Straight away when I was watching it, I was extremely shocked to see the level of violence that was used and the number of offenders that also targeted this girl, (it was) really shocking to see.
‘I’ve said that in 23 years… as a police officer to watch that is disturbing, not just as a father.
“So I can understand how shocked, how angry, not just the local community are but the wider community to see such a vicious attack.’