Four hour wait after dialling 999 following attack on their 11-year-old son


Mr & Mrs Reed want to prevent similar attacks on other children

The Reed family called 999 after their 11-year-old son was chased and attacked on the Upper Richmond Road on Tuesday (22 September). However, they say it took four and a half hours for the police to appear.



The boy and his friend were returning from a karate Class when they were approached at the junction of Charlwood Road and Norroy Road by four older boys on bikes.

The mother has posted on the NextDoor app,"They chased our boys down Charlwood Road, Clarendon Drive, down Gamlen Road and onto Hotham Road. During the chase our son and his friend lost their shoes. Our boys were on foot. When our son reached our house one boy held him and then his friend punched and threw our son to the ground."

She said, "Our son and his friend are, understandably, traumatised, scared and our son is sore, his head aches and his face is swollen. This is terrifying. Thankfully we do have CCTV at our house and caught two of the main culprits in the act on camera. The images aren’t perfect but hopefully are good enough to ID them."

The police have confirmed to PUtneySW15 that "Police were called on the 22 nd of September 2020 at approx. 19:07hrs to reports of an attempted robbery. Nothing was taken at the time and the investigation continues." They were unable to offer any more detail because the case is being investigated.

The mother told PutneySW15 that they have possibly identified the assailants through the help of social media and the CCTV images, however she said: "We haven't been able to inform the police of this as they aren't responding to our emails. The Police have been completely lacking in help.  In actual fact our case officer is away until Monday which means that we will effectively have waited a week for the police to do anything."

She thanks the support from local residents saying: "The response from social media across the whole of Putney has been truly amazing, with countless messages of support and tangible help in identifying those involved. Local people have done the job that was meant for the police. Despite now knowing the identity of those involved we are still struggling to get the police to respond or show any interest. Local policing is failing - focused more on dishing out crime numbers and victim support info than catching criminals."

PutneySW15 has requested a comment from the police regarding the slow response time when the victims were so young.


Putney MP Fleur Anderson

Putney MP Fleur Anderson told PutneySW15.com: "I am very concerned by the slow police response to this serious incident, and I know that many local people are rightly angry about this as well. There have been other serious incidents in the last week and the police must respond immediately. I have taken this up with the local police team and the Borough Commander."

Local Thamesfield councillor Mike Ryder, speaking on behalf of himself and colleagues Rosemary Torrington and John Locker, said: “We were shocked and very sorry to hear about this incident and can understand how upset this family are. I have contacted both the local police team and senior officers in the borough police command about violence in the area and have been assured that this is being taken very seriously. I have asked the local officers to keep the family up to date on their investigation, and I know the council’s Community Safety Team is also getting involved to help local residents.”

September 26, 2020