Teenagers 'using children to mug for them'

Juliet Conway12 April 2012

Teenage gangs are using children too young to be prosecuted to carry out muggings for them says the mother of a robbery victim.

Jenny Caminada said her son Oscar, 13, was threatened with a knife by a boy believed to be nine and told to hand over his phone in Lloyd Park near their home in Walthamstow.

Ms Caminada, 41, said the boy then gave the phone to two older teenagers. She claimed police told her there was "no point" in pressing charges because the boy was under 10 - the age of criminal responsibility.

She said: "I think the older ones use the little ones because there's nothing the police can do to perpetrators who are so young. Word on the street is this kid isn't nice and he's part of the local Grey Gang. This was like their initiation. Police were insistent we shouldn't press charges. They told me the boy was nine and therefore there was no point because he was too young."

Ms Caminada later learned that the boy was actually 10. She said she spent two days trying to get hold of a police constable, adding: "I was shocked that he only phoned back when he realised I'd gone to the local paper with the story."

Mrs Caminada told the officer the boy was 10. She said: "I took it to the local press to find out if there were other people who had been through something similar. Everyone here thinks this thing happens all the time."

Oscar said he was approached by the boy who asked him and his three friends for a BlackBerry phone or he would "shank" them. Oscar said: "You hear about stuff like that but you never think it's going to happen to you.

"We started laughing because he looked so young, but then he said, 'No I'm serious' and reached into his jacket and pulled out a knife. I was really shaken."

Oscar handed over his mobile on March 22 "to avoid more trouble". Ms Caminada said the police advised her against pressing charges because it would be unlikely the boy would be convicted and it would be a traumatic experience for her son.

She added: "I think the trial would be good for the young boy because he could learn his lesson. He needs to know he can't just go around mugging people with knives. I just want to make sure that this child is going to get some sort of support.

A Met spokeswoman said: "A 10-year-old has been arrested in connection with the incident."

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