Wroughton Hammer Attack - School Sued

Mail :

A white schoolboy was battered with a claw hammer in an attack at a school where politically correct teachers were afraid to deal with racial tensions, the High Court has heard.

Henry Webster, aged 15, suffered a fractured skull and brain damage after being set upon by a gang of youths during a fight on the school tennis court in 2007.

In the six years beforehand it is alleged that staff looked the other way during a string of incidents involving ‘radicalised’ Asians.

Teachers were too anxious about being seen as bigoted to intervene as a ‘culture of racist bullying and harassment’ built up around a 30-strong gang called the ‘Asian Invasion’.

At the same time, white pupils were branded ‘racist’ by the headmaster and given harsher punishments than Asians, the High Court was told.

Fourteen youths, some of whom were pupils, have already been jailed over the attack on Mr Webster but it was not prosecuted as a racially motivated attack.

However, his family have now brought a civil action against Ridgeway Foundation School near Swindon, Wiltshire, claiming there was a negligent failure to maintain proper discipline and deal with racial tension.

They are also seeking compensation of up to £1million.

Posts (mostly straight pastes of the local papers, as local news sites tend not to keep the stories) on the Wroughton Hammer Attack here. It's just worth repeating some of the comments on the local website :

From A Ridgeway Pupil at 1.44 :
"I am one of the pupils and i know full well why they made they attack, the "asian invasion" want to be the new maffia, the kids in our year and school are always bragging about their cousins fights and how they aren't to be messed with; thus thinking this, they think they are above everybody else and can do what they like. At school they are given VIP treatment, they say jump and the teachers say "how high," and the reason why they did this to Henry was because they barged into one another, accidental, in the corridor at morning break. Whilst three of the year nines (apart of the asian invasion) were provoking a fight, Henry laughed at them and tried walking away, with the three of them still at it, he pushed them off of him and carried on walking. Then the three boys contacted their families and suddenyl the push turned into a "punch" to the face because he was pakistani.
So tell me, this isn't racially motivated and that was a decent reason to do what he did."


From Ridgeway Pupil at 2.03:
I find it disguisting that all he has been given is GBH. I attended school on friday and through whatever means (internet and work of mouth) these older Asian Invasioners said "if we see your face on the news or name in the papers, we will do the same to you and it will be worse." Students are too scared to attend school, whitnesses (200+) are tramatised and parents are outraged. This has been going on for long enough, it started off they physically and verbally bullied the younger white boys, they then brought knives into school, they taunted other indian boys who aren't apart of the gang, calling them "white wannabes" and betrayers, and only a couple a months ago one of their dads assulted a teacher and put a kid in hospital. All linked, all formulating from racism and never ever named and shamed. Nothing was done when a cousin who was in their 20s broke a year 11s jaw so i ask you, if they get away with this AGAIN what will be next? Death is what. The head has quoted on a day to day basis of the running of Ridgeway, there is no racism, which is complete and utter bull. It infuriates me that the teachers try brainwashing everybody who isnt apart of this group that it isnt racism when we try voicing about this group, bu the minute they accuse any others of racism, numerous people are expelled and excessive, unneeded action is ALWAYS taken. It infuriates me completly and the school are too scared to take fair a just action against them incase they are labelled "racist."

From worried at 7.22 pm 14 Jan :
I have two children at this school, and I have been hearing about this so called "Asian Invasion" group from them for some time now. I feel ashamed that I played down the stories that my children have brought home because I honestly thought that they must be exaggerated, (surely if they had been true then the Head would have acted accordingly to stamp out such racist behaviour). I feel have let down my kids by not complaining to the school before this had to happen, but more importantly, I am angry that all of the kids at Ridgeway have been let down in this way because those in charge did not have the skills, the vision, or the courage to deal with this racial hatred before it went this far.

Doom and Gloom ...

The FT finished on Friday only about 50 points above its November low, the Dow's just hanging on above 7000.

Yesterday it dropped another 5% to a new low for this crisis. But given that the 2003 bottom (3300-ish ?) was caused by evaporating dot-com illusions, whereas this one's more down to various major structural unpleasantnesses, I'd have thought shares have a way to go - say to 2500-ish ?

It strikes me that someone like myself - on a smallish pension but with a chunk of savings in the bank - has only one chance to preserve any value. I need the FT100 to get down to 2500 as quickly as possible (at which point I get out of cash and into shares) before Gordon's printing-presses render both pension and savings worthless.

Wednesday's meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee will be shown the letters and then King will be allowed to take the Bank into the unknown. Normally the nine members of the MPC discuss interest rates, but having cut them to just 1 per cent this month, they have almost reached the end of that road. Now, instead of debating the price of money, the MPC will concentrate on the amount of it.

Quantitative easing allows the Bank to buy gilt-edged securities or corporate bonds from City institutions or through the market. As the Bank will not itself borrow the £100bn or more necessary, it is in effect printing money.

"There will be blood" says Niall Ferguson :

“There will be blood, in the sense that a crisis of this magnitude is bound to increase political as well as economic [conflict]. It is bound to destabilize some countries. It will cause civil wars to break out, that have been dormant. It will topple governments that were moderate and bring in governments that are extreme. These things are pretty predictable. The question is whether the general destabilization, the return of, if you like, political risk, ultimately leads to something really big in the realm of geopolitics. That seems a less certain outcome. We've already talked about why China and the United States are in an embrace they don't dare end. If Russia is looking for trouble the way Mr. Putin seems to be, I still have some doubt as to whether it can really make this trouble, because of the weakness of the Russian economy. It's hard to imagine Russia invading Ukraine without weakening its economic plight. They're desperately trying to prevent the ruble from falling off a cliff. They're spending all their reserves to prop it up. It's hardly going to help if they do another Georgia.”

“I was more struck Putin's bluster than his potential to bite, when he spoke at Davos. But he made a really good point, which I keep coming back to. In his speech, he said crises like this will encourage governments to engage in foreign policy aggression. I don't think he was talking about himself, but he might have been. It's true, one of the things historically that we see, and also when we go back to 30s, but also to the depressions 1870s and 19980s, weak regimes will often resort to a more aggressive foreign policy, to try to bolster their position. It's legitimacy that you can gain without economic disparity – playing the nationalist card. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of that in the year ahead.

It's just that I don't see it producing anything comparable with 1914 or 1939. It's kind of hard to envisage a world war. Even when most pessimistic, I struggle to see how that would work, because the U.S., for all its difficulties in the financial world, is so overwhelmingly dominant in the military world.”

Nothing, to be honest, that thee or me couldn't speculate on. Everyone knows that you need "a grand theme to appeal to the masses" at such times. The question is, what will that be? I can't see the EU, or even Putin (at present) annexing the Ukraine. In the UK I think we'll see more reality TV shows as HMG desperately try to keep the circuses running.

But there will be political consequences nonetheless. I particularly admire the attempts of the 'Scottish Government' to raise political awareness (and boost Carlisle and Berwick supermarket sales) by raising the price of alcohol. In today's Britain, a sober man will be an angry man.

The Economist has noted, two years on, the Government's retreat (which I blogged here) from the policy of engagement with (i.e. state funding of) the Muslim Council of Britain.

Now that system, and its unspoken compromises, lies in ruins. It was jettisoned in the autumn of 2006, when the government downgraded existing ties with the Muslim Council of Britain (in which movements close to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamists of Pakistan were strongly represented) and tried to find different interlocutors.

They've also noted that they've found no suitable replacement.

Nearly three years on, the government’s biggest problem is that it is struggling with two big questions at once. One is the set of problems described under the catch-all term of “cohesion”—narrowing the social, economic and cultural gap between Muslims (especially in some poor urban areas of northern Britain) and the rest of society. The second is countering the threat from groups preparing to commit violence in Britain or elsewhere in the name of Islam.

Alas, as I've pointed out many a time, the govts attempts at 'cohesion' merely show modern British culture - or lack thereof - in all its threadbare shame - not exactly an enticing prospect. This story will run and run.

The mother of Henry Webster speaks out :

It was January 11, 2007, when Henry, then 15 and a ginger-haired star rugby player, popular with his class mates and with no history of being disciplined for poor behaviour, arrived at the tennis court at The Ridgeway School in Swindon to settle, "one on one", an argument with a fellow pupil. Only it was a baying mob and not a single opponent waiting for him.

What happened next, witnessed by more than 100 pupils – and even filmed by one on a mobile phone – was an ambush so vicious that, at the subsequent court case, the judge described it as a ''savage and sustained attack".

It was, said Judge Carol Hagen when she passed sentence on 13 boys and young men who set upon Henry, a ''miracle'' that Henry had survived.

Though the 13 Asian teenagers and young men who attacked Henry – all members of a gang who called themselves the ''Asian Invaders'' – were given sentences of between eight months and eight years for grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to commit GBH, no independent inquiry into how Henry was brutally assaulted, while at school, in an attack that was described in court as ''something out of a Quentin Tarantino film".

During the trial, Judge Hagen was highly critical of the school, asking why there were no staff present in the tennis courts at the end of the school day, since it was known there had been trouble earlier in the day.

For the past 14 months Henry's mother has battled for a full inquiry and, after gaining support from the Government, has now won the right to a Serious Case Review on the attack.

The inquiry, which does not seek to apportion blame but to investigate what happened and evaluate what lessons can be learned, is expected to last four months and will, for the first time, lift the lid on alleged racial tensions within a school.

''I've fought hard to find out all the facts,'' said Mrs Webster, who is also suing The Ridgeway School for neglect. ''And it's been an excruciating wait.

"The school might say otherwise but the fact is that the attack on my son was a racial one. The school knew there were tensions – there have been numerous similar attacks before but nothing was ever done.

"Everything was swept under the carpet. Neither Henry or I am racist. But I feel my son was badly failed by a school that believes racism is only ever something that is carried out by white pupils."

It took a sustained campaign before the review was instigated by Mr Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

After a meeting with Mrs Webster he wrote to her saying that it was ''unacceptable that there has not been any full investigation of such a serious incident which left your son with permanent injuries".

Henry was repeatedly kicked, punched and battered before being beaten on the head with a claw hammer, fracturing his skull in three places and leaving him with permanent brain damage.

The Swindon local authority referred the case to their Local Safeguarding of Children Board, which has now sanctioned the review.

The headteacher of The Ridgeway School, Mr Steven Colledge, has said that he welcomes the investigation.

The case has highlighted the extent of racist incidents in our schools and, in particular, the reluctance on the part of some to treat attacks as racist when they are carried out by minority cultures.

Mrs Webster was not aware that, when those who carried out the crime came to court, it was up to the prosecution to cite the attack as racist.

Had that been proved, the sentences meted out – especially to Wasif Khan, 19, described in court as ''the hammer man'' and who was jailed for eight years for wielding the weapon that fractured Henry's skull – may well have been much stiffer.

What is particularly worrying, however, for parents in Swindon, is the light the case has shed on the number of racists attacks in the city's schools and how such incidents escalate.

Between November 2006 and November 2008 police dealt with 337 crimes – 137 of them violent incidents – at Swindon schools.

The highest number of those attacks, some 58, occurred at Churchfields school while 52 were recorded at Ridgeway school.

In the past 12 months, admittedly, perimeter fences and bans on mobile phones has helped the school reduce its number of violent crimes.

Henry, bleeding heavily from his head, was taken to hospital and, within 35 minutes, police had rounded up several of the gang members. It was Joe, Henry's younger brother, who telephoned his mother.

He had been standing at a bus stop when a passing pupil told him Henry had been beaten up. ''You can't imagine how it feels to see your son soaked in blood,'' Mrs Webster said, tears threatening.

''I just couldn't believe that no one from the school had called me to say there had been trouble earlier. All the pupils knew something was going on.

"When I was with Henry at the local hospital's accident and emergency unit one of Henry's friends telephoned me to say the same thing had happened to him some time before but he had managed to get away.

"All the children knew that these 'Asian invaders' were terrorising white pupils.''

For Mrs Webster the Serious Case Review will, she hopes, give some insight into how such a violent attack happened on the school premises.

''As far as I can see there was no control and no discipline,'' she says. ''Bullying and violence were rife when Henry was attacked and I want the school to admit that.''

Mr Colledge, the headteacher of The Ridgeway School, was unavailable for comment.

Remarkable

When I saw the news that an appeal had been launched against the sentences handed down to the perpetrators of the Wroughton hammer attack, I know I should be used to it, but my heart sank. So many times you find that, six months or a year after sentences are handed down for a dreadful crime, an appeal quietly reduces them.

Well strike a light.

The Attorney General has referred the cases of Nazrul Amin, Amjad Qazi and four juveniles back to the Court of Appeal, requesting harsher sentences.

Well, ok, I also see that "Wasif Khan is to appeal separately to have his sentence cut" - but fair do's, Baroness Scotland.

"a very unfortunate incident these boys got caught up in"

Wittshire Gazette

One OF Swindon's Asian community leaders has said that the youths convicted of attacking Henry Webster were good boys who got caught up in a bad situation. The families of most of the teenagers live in the Broadgreen area and attend the Jamia Mosque in Broad Street. Azim Khan, chairman of the Thamesdown Islamic Association, which runs the mosque said he did not think race played a part in the attack, but blamed teenagers getting caught up in gang culture.

"All of the families come to the mosque," said Mr Khan.

"Their families are all devastated that they could get caught up in something like this. They are really upset and don't understand how this happened. Our job now as a community is to make sure it doesn't happen again. They're not bad kids whatsoever. Their families are normal families, they wouldn't harm anybody, they are working families. But at the end of the day kids are kids. I don't think this incident was about those children being Asian, I think it is about children in general not having respect for authorities. When you look at the papers you see stories about kids in gangs up and down the country. There isn't much for them to do. They get together and get into trouble. We always advise the children to be part of the community. Make a name for yourself by being hardworking and a benefit to the community. But there are always exceptions, one or two who get into trouble, but 99 per cent are good. Everyone now is making sure they keep an eye on their children and that they are not hanging around together outside school and sports clubs and things.

In court Wasif Khan said he had been scared to tell the truth because of pressure from the Asian community. He said he gave no comment in his police interview because Amjad Qazi's father was an imam at the mosque.

Mr Khan confirmed Qazi's father had been an imam until two years ago.

"I knew Amjad quite well," he said. "He's a nice boy. I don't understand how he went along with what happened. These children had no intention to take these steps. He was just very unfortunate that they somehow got to go and do this. They all said they had not intention whatsoever to do this sort of thing. It was just bad luck that they got caught up in this unfortunate incident. What they have been saying to me is it is just an unfortunate situation they became a part of. It was just bad luck''.

Mr Khan said despite a large number of Asian youngsters being convicted of taking part in the attack it had not caused any racial tensions.

"I haven't heard anything that makes me think it is dividing the community. The trial is not really something people have been talking about. This was an argument between schoolboys that went wrong. Wrong to the extreme. But this wasn't about race. I believe in living in this country and by the laws of this country. If somebody does wrong then they should be dealt with by the courts and justice system. I don't think people will judge the Asian community by the outcome of this case. Swindon has a very good integrated community. You don't come across any racists. During the police operation they have been very good to keep the community with them to solve any problems. Just after the attack happened there was some talk about it being racially motivated, but I haven't seen any evidence of that and the police don't think it was.

"The BNP have had a few things to say about it, but everyone else seems to have realised it was just a very unfortunate incident these boys got caught up in."

9:16am Wednesday 9th April 2008

So several carloads of Asian people drive from Swindon to horrifically injure a white schoolboy - and the good news is that there aren't many racists in Swindon ! Not white ones anyway.

UPDATE - Henry Webster's mother responds :

THE mother of a 15-year-old boy left with brain damage by an Asian gang is blaming multi-culturalism for the way ethnic minorities get away with violent bullying in schools.

Liz Webster, 43, from Swindon, whose son Henry nearly died in the attack, believes a “culture of timidity” among teachers is stopping them clamping down on ethnic minority bullies because they fear accusations of racism. She also accuses teachers of failing to recognise that ethnic minorities can exhibit racism against whites.

Her son, who was a pupil at Ridgeway comprehensive, near Swindon, was set upon by a 16-strong Asian gang, smashed on the skull by repeated blows from a claw hammer and left for dead. Last week 13 of the gang were convicted of charges relating to the attack.

Before the assault little action appears to have been taken against the gang, despite incidents of persistent aggressive be-haviour. In the immediate aftermath of the assault, neither the school’s headmaster, Steven Colledge, nor any of its 90 teachers visited the Webster family or even sent a get-well card.

After the court verdict last week Webster said: “We are devastated by what has happened and extremely upset and angry not only about the school’s failure to protect Henry, but about their attitude afterwards.”

Webster said she was anxious that teachers should learn how to manage racial integration successfully but added: “If they had once said they were sorry, or asked how he was, it would have made all the difference. It is as if they want to sweep us and everything to do with us, under the carpet. Whatever was going on, Henry had absolutely nothing to do with it. He seems to have been picked on just because he is big and has ginger hair.”

Police had been called to a similar incident involving members of the same gang eight months earlier. A white pupil was left with a broken jaw, but there was no prosecution.

“Everyone seems to think that racism starts with white people,” Webster said. “They can’t seem to get their heads round the fact that racism can come from the other side. I now know a lot more about the disciplinary problems with some of the Asian boys. If they had been white, I think they would have been kicked out.”

One of the defendants claimed there were repeated rumours of racist bullying by whites against Asians at the school. There is no evidence of any build-up of tension, however, before the attack on Henry, in January 2007. It was sparked by a confrontation in a corridor between him and a 14-year-old Asian boy, which led to a challenge to a one-on-one fight after class on the school tennis courts.

When Henry, who had no record of disciplinary problems, arrived at the courts he found three carloads of older teenagers armed with a variety of weapons. They had been summoned by 59 mobile phone calls made in the space of little more than an hour. One caller told them one of the “ gora [whites], a big fat ginger kid, wanted a fight”.

The diminutive 14-year-old boy pointed out Webster to the gang. Webster was cornered, punched and, as he turned to try to escape, knocked down and hit with the hammer. Even after onlookers had heard the crack of his skull fracturing, the other gang members continued to kick and punch him.

In front of at least 250 school-children, the gang yelled: “That’s what you call Paki-bashing,” while punching the air.

During the attack, the schoolboy’s skull was fractured in three places by the hammer. A section about 2in across was smashed into the front of his skull, tearing the lining of his brain.

Wasif Khan, 18, who wielded the hammer on Webster, has been convicted of grievous bodily harm, as have Amjad Qazi, 19, Nazrul Amin, 19, and four schoolboys. On Tuesday the final members of the gang, who styled themselves the Broadgreen Mas-sif after the area of Swindon where they lived, were found guilty of conspiracy for their part in the attack. All 13 will be sentenced later this month.

Nobody has been able to explain adequately the background to the assault. There have been unproven rumours that Asians have been victims of racial bullying in the school. Staff at Ridgeway comprehensive, a foundation school with 1,400 pupils, in the village of Wroughton outside Swindon, last week refused to discuss the issues. A spokesman said there might still be civil litigation.

The Websters are likely to claim £1m compensation for Henry’s injuries, which include permanent brain damage.

Nor has the school explained its treatment of the Webster family after the attack. The headmaster told a governors’ inquiry that gestures such as sending cards or flowers were “not in his nature”. Questioned about an incident in which a pupil had come to school wrapped in a Pakistani flag, he told them it was no different from a Welsh governor wearing a Welsh flag or a daffodil.

Colledge said this weekend: “Henry did come into the school for two lunchtimes a week for a number of weeks after [the attack]. We did our best to facilitate that. Work was provided but there were problems with Henry doing it and there was home tuition provided through the local authority.”

Teachers also declined to get involved when the Websters requested extra vigilance for their younger son, Joe, 12, who was anxious to continue at the Ridgeway with his friends. The younger boy was surrounded by a threatening gang of Bengali-speaking Asians a few weeks after the attack.

Webster believes the school is guilty of discrimination: “After the earlier scuffles the day Henry was attacked, it was Henry who was asked to report to the deputy head, not any of the Asian boys, yet somehow it is racist for me to question why my son was treated differently from them.”

The police have been reluctant to accept any racial element. “We took 797 statements, we have 3,000 pages of documents and there is nothing to indicate racist language or taunts were used in any of the exchanges,” said Detective Sergeant Mark Wilkinson of Wiltshire police, who led the investigation.

Nevertheless, Wilkinson concedes Khan was a “wannabe militant”. He had been involved in two previous violent incidents, though never charged, and carried on his mobile phone a screensaver of the collapse of New York’s twin towers.

The Websters’ solicitor, Mark McGhee, said: “There was a history to all of this which went back two years before the attack on Henry. These boys’ disciplinary records had been appalling and nothing had been done about them. Had the school behaved properly, this attack would never have happened.”

I think the Latin phrase is 'res ipsa loquitur'.

Wroughton Hammer Attack - More Convictions

Batch 2

Aqduss Rauf, 20, Bilal Yakub, 18, Rouble Meah, 20, Mahbub Ali, 19, and Kamran Khan, 24, were found guilty of conspiracy to cause actual bodily harm (ABH). A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to a charge of violent disorder at the start of a second trial.

Javed Khan, 21, Mizonur Rahman, 18, and a 15-year-old boy were acquitted of conspiracy to commit ABH.

In the second of two trials at Bristol Crown Court, the jury heard that four teenagers - Wasif Khan, 18, Amjad Qazi, 19, and two boys, 15 and 16, who cannot be named - had been found guilty in February of carrying out the attack with the DIY tool.

The jury was told that three other youngsters aged 15 and 16 admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm before the first trial commenced.

Justice, however, is not quite done.

Twelve of those convicted have been released on bail, while Wasif Khan was remanded in custody after the first trial.

They will all be sentenced at separate hearings yet to be fixed.

Hmm. The past is not necessarily a guide to the future but ... they SHOULD all be looking at 8-10 years after remission. I'll be gobsmacked if even the leaders get that. Best guess - 1-2 years with remission for the footsoldiers, 3-4 years with remission for the ringleaders. We shall see.

Wroughton Verdicts - Trial 1

Seven Asian teenagers have been convicted of brutally battering a schoolboy to the brink of death with a claw hammer, it can be revealed today. Henry Webster, 16, from Wiltshire, was left fighting for life after being repeatedly hit with the DIY tool in scenes compared to a Quentin Tarantino film.

Four teenagers - 18-year-old Wasif Khan, 19-year-old Amjad Qazi and two boys aged 15 and 16 who cannot be named - were found guilty of carrying out the attack by a jury on February 14. Nazrul Amin, 19, and two other youngsters aged 15 and 16 admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm before proceedings began at Bristol Crown Court.

The convictions can be made public today after Judge Carol Hagen agreed to lift reporting restrictions she had implemented when the jury returned its verdict.

Henry, who attended Ridgeway School in Wroughton, Wiltshire, suffered three skull fractures during the violence. One caused him a brain injury and required surgery.

A jury of five women and seven men had been told how a gang of Asian males, from Swindon, travelled to Wroughton for the fight after being summoned by a friend in a sequence of phone calls and text messages. The court had been told how the fight "blew out of nothing" after Henry ran into a group of Asian boys in a corridor at his school. After a brief argument, he was asked to meet one of the 15-year-old defendants at the school tennis courts later that day.

Describing the incident that unfolded on the tennis courts that day in January last year, James Patrick, prosecuting, said: "For those there, it made a sickening sight, the sort of which you would expect to see in a Quentin Tarantino film - certainly not at a school in a village in Wiltshire." The jury was told how Henry, a 6ft 2in rugby player with bright red hair, was targeted because he "stood out". A message recorded from a phone call between a witness and one of the suspects, on the day of the fight, said: "There's a big fat ginger kid who wants a fight at the school."

The Asian group arrived at the school and were heard screaming near the tennis courts, the court heard. Mr Patrick added: "It was to be a fair fight, a one-on-one - or so Henry thought. But he had not reckoned on the fact it was not to be one-on-one. As he came into the playground he was attacked by a group. He was knocked to the ground, he was kicked, punched and repeatedly hit over the head with a hammer."

In a video interview filmed six days after the attack, Henry told police that the group had ambushed him. He said: "I heard screams, then I was punched in the back of my head. I was curled up on the floor but they repeatedly kept hitting me. Then I felt the hammer hit the back of my head." He added: "I know it was a hammer because if it was a punch, your vision does not change. As I got hit, my vision turned to stars - it all separated, what I could see, because it was so powerful."

Witnesses to the assault saw his attackers run off, punching the air and shouting: "We've done it." After the attack, teachers were alerted and ambulances arrived at the scene within minutes. Henry stayed conscious throughout the ordeal. He told the court he was still suffering from the life-threatening injuries sustained in the attack. Henry said: "The hammer had gone through my head, through my skull and into the fluid in my brain. I have been told I will never recover because the brain cells will not reform."

Khan and Qazi, the two eldest defendants, blamed each other for the attack during more than four weeks' evidence. Khan had claimed that he was under pressure from his local Asian community not to name the teenager responsible. Referring to the two teenagers who pleaded guilty before the trial, Mr Patrick said they had kicked Henry as he lay on the ground. Khan was remanded in custody. The other three were granted bail pending sentence.

Hmmm. Bail pending sentence. Somehow I don't think we're looking at double-figure sentences here.

Henry's mum is not too chuffed with the school. From the comments on the local papers at the time of the attack it appeared there had been trouble from the gang calling itself "Asian Invasion" for some time.

After the restrictions were lifted, Henry's mother Liz Webster, made a statement on behalf of the family on the steps of Bristol Crown Court. Joined by partner Roger Durnford and Det Sgt Mark Wilkinson, she said Ridgeway School should have been a safe, secure environment.

She said: "This attack was not an isolated incident, it was a culmination of events. This hideous crime which has touched and affected so many young lives was wholly avoidable. That school has at no time made any efforts to assist us and my son's life and future prospects have been devastated. No parent should have to endure the heartache of their child being subjected to such horrifying violence while at school - in what should be an entirely safe and secure environment. And no child should have to experience any of the utter terror and pain my son suffered on what should have been an ordinary day in the protective surroundings of school."

Ms Webster paid tribute to her son for his "amazing strength". She said: "On January 11 last year a gang strutted into the Ridgeway School and almost killed my 15-year-old son by repeatedly striking his head with a hammer. The events of that day propelled us into a terrifying and traumatic world and our lives have now been changed forever. It has been an incredibly challenging year especially for our wonderful son, Henry, who has inspired us all with his amazing strength and courage. Since his birth, Henry has always been a very sweet-natured, sensitive, kind, generous, thoughtful boy - a real gentle giant."

Ms Webster thanked the police, witnesses and psychiatric staff who have helped them through the ordeal. She said: "We have to take this opportunity to convey our thanks to those who have extended their help and support, in particular all the witnesses and their families - who have also become victims of this horrific incident. The police, Det Sgt Wilkinson and his team, have been a wealth of support and professionalism. The ambulance service who acted so promptly and, of course, the medical team at Frenchay Hospital to whom Henry ultimately owes his life. Last but not least, we'd like to mention Professor Gordon Turnbull, psychiatrist. We could not have survived this dreadful ordeal without Gordon's intervention. He has been our family's salvation."

Det Sgt Wilkinson said: "I would like to reassure the community that this was an extremely rare crime and that Swindon is a very safe place in which to live, work and visit."

Steve Colledge, headteacher at Ridgeway School, a self-governing foundation establishment, was not available for comment.

There's a surprise. There's a separate trial of his other assailants continuing.

Wroughton Hammer Attack - Verdict 1

They've reached a verdict - but it's a secret.

They're waiting for the trial of the next batch of defendants before releasing the verdict of the first batch.

The defendants are blaming each other.

Who do you think did it ?

"Then I saw the attacker running past me. And he hid his face from me. He had a black hoodie on. He put his hood up and was hiding his face from me. As I glanced at him I saw him hide the hammer in his jacket. At that point I noticed his top. It had a distinctive 'and' sign on it. The symbol was big and took up most of the back of the jacket."

Wasif Khan, 18, of Caversham Close, Amjad Qazi, 19, of Broad Street, a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have all denied wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The jury at Bristol Crown Court has heard that when police arrested Wasif Khan in Broad Street, less than half an hour after the attack, he was carrying a plastic bag, containing a black Dolce and Gabbana jacket with a white ampersand logo covering the back.

Dolce and Gabbana ? Just another case of poverty causing crime.

Wroughton - Trial Latest

Tuesday

A Ridgeway schoolboy has told how terrified children and parents witnessed the savage attack on Henry Webster. The youngster gave evidence via video link at Bristol Crown Court after the footage of his first statement a year ago was played to the jury. The court heard how screams filled the Wroughton school's tennis courts as 15-year-old Henry was repeatedly struck with a hammer.

The witness - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - said: "The younger children were in shock and were crying, "I heard a woman - who was by a car - screaming."

Henry was attacked with a claw hammer on the tennis courts of Ridgeway School, Wroughton, on January 11 last year. During the assault he was also punched and kicked as he lay on the ground bleeding. A large number of pupils and parents are believed to have witnessed the incident, which took place as students made their way home at about 4pm. The jury in the trial of Wasif Khan, 18, Amjad Qazi, and two boys aged 15 and 16, heard that the Year 10 pupil had just left a PE lesson a few minutes early and was waiting for a friend in the tennis courts when he saw a gang acting suspiciously.

He said: "There were three Asians patrolling outside school. I say patrolling, they were walking up and down Inverary Road with their hoods up looking into the tennis courts."

The teenager then said that one of the unnamed defendants approached the gang and pointed out Henry by shouting It's the ginger one'.

He said: "It was crystal clear."

He added: "The Asians walked up to Henry and punched him to the ground. The little guy held him back and then one got a hammer out. They must have hit him seven or eight times on the head or shoulders. He (Henry) fell to the floor again, tried to get up but fell over, then they ran out up Inverary Road."

The witness said he didn't return to school the next day because he was worried for his safety. He said: "I was in shock"

The trial continues.

Wednesday

The sound of a hammer smashing into Henry Webster's head still haunts a teenager who saw the attack, a court heard. The year 10 Ridgeway pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the jury at Bristol Crown Court: "You could actually hear his skull crack and see the blood go everywhere when he fell on the floor."

Wasif Khan, 18, of Caversham Close, Amjad Qazi, 19, of Broad Street, a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have all denied wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

"It went to the bottom of your stomach, like just before you are sick," the teenage witness told the seventh day of the trial.

"A few days later all I could see was that hammer going over and over again. While I was close to it I could hear it. People near me could hear it. I heard his skull crack quite clearly from about 10 metres away. Blood was all coming down his face and on his hands where he was trying to stop the bleeding."

The pupil said he saw three Asian men enter the tennis courts at Ridgeway School, Wroughton. He said one of the men was hunting around the dashboard of a red car before he entered the tennis court and repeatedly beat Henry in the back of the head with a silvery hammer with a black or blue handle.

"The one with the hammer was hitting Henry in the head with it," said the witness "Then he turned the hammer around and used the claw end. He brought the hammer down with the full force of his arm and shoulder."

The teenager said three Asian Ridgeway pupils, including the 15-year-old defendant, then kicked and punched Henry as he lay on the ground.

"While they were punching him the facial expressions of the kids doing it looked like they really wanted to hurt him. They kept punching and punching, over and over. While Henry was trying to block his face, they kept trying to stop him covering his face."

The trial continues

Hmmm ...

I hope the police are checking the bebo links and comments of Ridgefield school pupils. Youthful bravado or what ? Certainly the kind of thing that could get a native's collar felt.

4 da cause
We kick down doors
N break laws
We don't care bout police
We live by Allahz laws
4 da cause
I clap down goreh
Don't test me
I'm a Muslim
Can't let ntin depress me
I won't hit em
Until I reach ma garden
I beg your pardon
I ride with Bin Laden
I don't joke around
I don't play around
Touch any of ma team
And watch my gun spray around


It looks as if Gordon Brown's flag-flapping has some way to go before full integration is achieved and we can all wrap ourselves in the Union Flag.

MY MUSLIM PRIDE
I WILL NT HIDE
MY PAKISTANI RACE
I WIL NT DISGRASE
MY MUSLIM BLOOD
FLOWS HOT N TRU
MY MUSLIM PPL
I WILL STAND BY U
THRU THIK N THIN
TIL THE DAY WE DIE
OUR MUSLIM FLAGZ
ALWAYZ STAND HIGH
I YEL DIZ POEM
LOUDER DAN AL DA REST
CUZ EVERY 1 KNOZ
WE MUSLIMZ R DA BEST!!!

Wroughton Hammer Attack Update

The comments on the local newspaper are interesting, if you ignore the idiots :

From A Ridgeway Pupil at 1.44 :
"I am one of the pupils and i know full well why they made they attack, the "asian invasion" want to be the new maffia, the kids in our year and school are always bragging about their cousins fights and how they aren't to be messed with; thus thinking this, they think they are above everybody else and can do what they like. At school they are given VIP treatment, they say jump and the teachers say "how high," and the reason why they did this to Henry was because they barged into one another, accidental, in the corridor at morning break. Whilst three of the year nines (apart of the asian invasion) were provoking a fight, Henry laughed at them and tried walking away, with the three of them still at it, he pushed them off of him and carried on walking. Then the three boys contacted their families and suddenyl the push turned into a "punch" to the face because he was pakistani.
So tell me, this isn't racially motivated and that was a decent reason to do what he did."

From Ridgeway Pupil at 2.03:
I find it disguisting that all he has been given is GBH. I attended school on friday and through whatever means (internet and work of mouth) these older Asian Invasioners said "if we see your face on the news or name in the papers, we will do the same to you and it will be worse." Students are too scared to attend school, whitnesses (200+) are tramatised and parents are outraged. This has been going on for long enough, it started off they physically and verbally bullied the younger white boys, they then brought knives into school, they taunted other indian boys who aren't apart of the gang, calling them "white wannabes" and betrayers, and only a couple a months ago one of their dads assulted a teacher and put a kid in hospital. All linked, all formulating from racism and never ever named and shamed. Nothing was done when a cousin who was in their 20s broke a year 11s jaw so i ask you, if they get away with this AGAIN what will be next? Death is what. The head has quoted on a day to day basis of the running of Ridgeway, there is no racism, which is complete and utter bull. It infuriates me that the teachers try brainwashing everybody who isnt apart of this group that it isnt racism when we try voicing about this group, bu the minute they accuse any others of racism, numerous people are expelled and excessive, unneeded action is ALWAYS taken. It infuriates me completly and the school are too scared to take fair a just action against them incase they are labelled "racist." They have the upper hand of this school and they controll the running of it, it isnt fair and it had gone on long enough.

Either they go, or i know alot of other students a I will go elsewhere.

UPDATE - From worried at 7.22 pm 14 Jan :
I have two children at this school, and I have been hearing about this so called "Asian Invasion" group from them for some time now. I feel ashamed that I played down the stories that my children have brought home because I honestly thought that they must be exaggerated, (surely if they had been true then the Head would have acted accordingly to stamp out such racist behaviour). I feel have let down my kids by not complaining to the school before this had to happen, but more importantly, I am angry that all of the kids at Ridgeway have been let down in this way because those in charge did not have the skills, the vision, or the courage to deal with this racial hatred before it went this far. I am also saddened that the justice system has let us all down with the GBH charge. I will not be joining the BNP, I will not be changing my ideals that on the whole we are all decent human beings no matter what colour we are, but I will be protesting to make sure that racist attacks on whites are taken as seriously as those attacks on blacks/asians in the future.

UPDATE2 - from This Is Wiltshire :

From asian at 11.52 am 15/1/07 :
Well said John i am an Asian young female and it was Racist the group are called the Asian Invasion they are bragging about this on a web site called Bebo. I do not mix with these sort of people but i do agree with you it was and is a racist gang.

Posted by: anon on 12:53pm today :

thease boys who attacked this lad have things on there bebo that shocked me for instance, one lad left comment saying lol (laugh out loud) i got arrested for gbh. Not funny at all. also one lads video showed the twin towers coming down, until somebody threatened him that he would be reported. I beleive this was racially motivated as thease asian lads appear to be racist.I have children in this school and am worried about about the repecussions .
thease boys who attacked this lad have things on there bebo that shocked me for instance, one lad left comment saying lol (laugh out loud) i got arrested for gbh. Not funny at all. also one lads video showed the twin towers coming down, until somebody threatened him that he would be reported. I beleive this was racially motivated as thease asian lads appear to be racist.I have children in this school and am worried about about the repecussions.

Posted by: Tony on 1:41pm today :
As a parent with pupils at Ridgeway School l wish Henry a full and speedy recovery! We are all naturally appalled with the nature and ferocity of this attack and that it happened in the percieved safety of school grounds in full view of horrified pupils and parents, some of these will also bear the emotional scars of what unfolded for the rest of their lives! I disagree that the school have a racial problem the majority of pupils some of mixed ethnic groups do mix and get on well together it is only a very small element that seem to think it appropriate to phone older relatives/friends everytime they have an issue with another pupil that they cannot handle. Sooner the school deal with these the better. Only GBH?? Sorry bringing a hammer to a fight is pre-meditated and surely if you bludgeon a defenceless boy in this manner the charge must be attempted murder! Roles reversed, 7/8 white on asian would be classed by the Police, Community leaders etc as a racist attack - sorry gone to far the other way for me.

Posted by: jo on 4:40pm today :
This behaviour is appauling. The police/courts should issue a more severe punishment to all the youths involved in this incident. By the gang calling themselves the 'asian invasion' and having these bebo websites should be enough for the police to charge them with something more than GBH surly.
This behaviour is appauling. The police/courts should issue a more severe punishment to all the youths involved in this incident. By the gang calling themselves the 'asian invasion' and having these bebo websites should be enough for the police to charge them with something more than GBH surly.

Posted by: sally on 4:45pm today
http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=1275376480

Now these posts may not be genuine. They could all be cunningly inserted lies, set up by troublemakers determined to undermine community relations. But the comments about double standards and teachers being scared of the r-word (professional and social death for a teacher to get this tag) ring true. And in the spelling and grammar I detect the authentic voice of the British education system.

Compare and Contrast

The BBC version :


Schoolboy 'attacked with hammer'

Eight men have been arrested following a violent attack on a schoolboy in Wroughton in Wiltshire.

The 15-year old pupil at the Ridgeway school was allegedly hit with a hammer as he left after classes just before 1600 GMT on Thursday.

The teenager, who has not been named, was taken to the Great Western Hospital where he is been treated for head injuries. His parents are at his side.

The incident happened as scores of children were leaving to go home.

A source said the boy had been held down and hit with a hammer by the family of another pupil at the school.

The eight men are being held at Gable Cross Police Station in Swindon.

The Metro version :

The boy was set upon at the end of the school day by a gang of Asian men who local sources said were the family of another pupil at the comprehensive school.

He was said to have been held down and hit with a hammer.

Mr Colledge said he was on patrol in the school grounds when the victim, who is white and in year 11, was attacked.

"After school had ended for the day and pupils were exiting the premises at least four young adults unknown to the school came into the tennis courts and attacked the pupil, we believe with something similar to a hammer," he said.

He said he understood that the boy had been hit more than once and was "bleeding profusely but conscious at all times and able to help get himself on to the paramedic's stretcher".

"Clearly it's such a shocking incident and everybody has been very helpful in identifying the perpetrators of the incident to police," he added.

"The car was quickly identified and given to the police who I believe have now detained eight men.

"When he was at the school he was speaking and able to tell us what had happened and we were able to talk to him. His mum and dad arrived before he went off in the ambulance, I imagine they are very upset."

Counselling for pupils who witnessed the incident would be offered if needed.

He said although he was aware there had been a similar type of incident at the school before he took up his role as headmaster in September, generally race relations between pupils at the school were good.

"Relations seem to be very good and pupils mix, play football and chat together."

But Mr Colledge had heard the attackers were relatives of a pupil at the school.

He said: "If that's the case I think it's even more sad.

"It's not the sort of incident you would expect to happen anywhere really and it's very hard to understand why such extreme violence would be used."

He also appealed for pupils not to take matters into their own hands.

"We will talk to pupils about responding responsibly and sensibly to what has happened," he said.

The teenager was tonight being treated at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. A spokesman said: "He has been treated and is comfortable."

Ridgeway School has about 1,450 pupils aged 11 to 18.


Hmmm. Wroughton isn't some 'inna-city' hell-hole either. It's a pleasant enough commuter zone to the south of Swindon.