Sword attack victim: 'I cannot get back to normal'

A safeguarding review has been launched after a 15-year-old boy was sentenced to 11 years detention for the attempted murder of a schoolgirl. His father claims opportunities were missed to keep his son away from offending.

Drivers heading into Hull in the early hours of 1 November spotted a young girl standing in the slow lane of the A63 dual carriageway. Her arms outstretched; she was covered in blood.

It was the morning after Halloween. But this was no costume. The blood was real. She had 10 stab wounds after being attacked with a sword during a camping trip with friends.

At the hospital, doctors said she was lucky to survive.

The 14-year-old, who was 13 at the time of the attack, is still suffering physically and mentally.

In her victim impact statement, read out at Hull Crown Court, she said she still had panic attacks and the scars to be "reminded of what he did to me".

She said: "It affects me badly as I get angry and frustrated. I still have pain and cannot do the things I used to."

Her attacker was 14 at the time and a boy she had known for months.

Judge John Thackray KC praised the victim for showing "bravery beyond her years" but said it was "another sad and depressing example of a child having access to a deadly and fearsome weapon and using it".

The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, had been involved with Hull City Council's children's services. The court heard at the time of the attack he was living in a children's home.

A review by Hull Safeguarding Children Partnership, which is independent of the council, will identify learning opportunities for multi-agency working.

A council statement said: "This is a very distressing situation, and we are doing our best to support the young people involved.

"A referral to the national safeguarding panel was considered and the criteria was not met.

"Any identified recommendations will be taken forward once this review has concluded."

Separately, the council is reinvestigating a complaint made by the boy's father last September – just over a month before the attack.

Worried about his son's escalating behaviour and the people he was spending time with, he complained to the council that social services were not adequately safeguarding him.

There were concerns he was repeatedly going missing and stealing; fears he was being exploited to use and deal drugs and that he had, on occasion, also left home with a knife.

The father's complaint was investigated by the council last October. It was not upheld. But following an appeal, it is now being re-examined.

"We had spent six months begging for help in the lead-up to this," the boy's father told the BBC. "I did say someone is going to get seriously hurt."

He showed the BBC texts from last summer. In one, he warns a social worker his son "is at constant risk" and "it's only a matter of time before the worst-case scenario happens".

At the time, he believed that worst case would be a drug deal gone wrong and his son or someone else getting hurt.

He had not contemplated an attack quite like the one that took place in woodland near the Humber Bridge. The father said he was "devastated" for the young girl.

Asked what he had wanted social services to do for his son, he said he felt he needed to be placed in secure children's accommodation.

The father believes if this had happened last summer, the attack might have been prevented.

He said concerns had been growing about his son's behaviour for about 18 months.

His son had been living with his grandparents under a special guardianship order because he and his ex-wife had past alcohol and domestic abuse issues.

"We thought he was in a gang," said the father. "We'd seen a lot on the news about county lines exploitation and he was displaying the behaviours."

Documents seen by the BBC show the boy had referrals to mental health charity MIND and VEMT – a team that specialises in vulnerable, missing and exploited young people.

But the grandparents felt unable to cope. A trial period living with his father only lasted a couple of months. He was still going missing.

Asked why, as his father, he could not make his son behave, he said he did have a curfew, but added: "It's not like the old days where you'd get a clip around the lug.

"If he wanted to be out, he would be out. When you'd go to the toilet, he'd be out the door. You'd go to bed on a night, he'd be out the bedroom window."

The boy then moved between friends and relatives.

During a social services assessment last August, the teenager admitted he was being exploited and made to deal drugs. It was also noted that he was suspected of leaving home with a knife.

Social workers expressed concern that family relationships had broken down, family were showing a lack of understanding and the boy "felt worthless".

He had disengaged with school and was spending time with people known to the police.

His dad felt secure accommodation was the best option.

"He wouldn't have been able to deal drugs. He wouldn't have been able to carry knives. He'd get educated," he said.

"But they said, the children that he'd be mixing with would make his behaviour escalate. At that point, I didn't see how it could escalate."

Hull City Council said it did not comment on individual cases but "fully engaged in any ongoing procedure" when asked about the father's complaint.

There is now another wait to see what is concluded and what lessons, if any, can be learned.

But there can be no doubt that two young lives have changed forever.

The boy will have to face his punishment.

His victim said she wanted to "get back to normal but can't because of what happened".

"I try to be happy and positive but I can't as this is hanging over me," she added.

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