Hucknall councillor vows 'lawless few' will not ruin town parks after sickening attack on boy at Titchfield

Coun Lee Waters (Ash Ind), who represents Hucknall North, was reacting to reports of a sickening attack on a 13-year-old boy by a gang of youths in Titchfield Park.

At one point, the boy was throttled by a member of the gang, while the others stood around filming it.

The boy’s mum says the incident has left her son petrified.

She added that she has the names of all the gang members involved and will be demanding police press assault charges on them all.

But the incident has also led to others demanding better security and potentially CCTV to be installed at venues like Titchfield Park following numerous incidents of vandalism, discarded needles being found near the children’s play area, attacks on the park boathouse and now this latest frightening episode.

Coun Waters said: “I am sorry to hear about this serious incident and would like to reassure residents that we take incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour extremely seriously.

"This is why we met with the local police inspector and a member of his team recently to highlight these issues and outline our priority areas for tackling crime and the fear of crime.

"One of these areas was Titchfield Park.

“As a result, extra officers have been put on patrol in parks, on our streets and on our estates.

"There’s no substitute however for a visible police presence and I would plead with any resident who have seen this serious incident to call the police on 101 with information.

“The Ashfield Independents will continue to fight for extra policing resources and back them up with our own community protection officers.

“We will also continue to invest in our district’s beautiful park and facilities.

“We have spent the most amount of money on improving it since Ashfield District Council was created in 1974.

“We won’t let the lawless few ruin our parks for the vast, vast majority of Hucknall residents.”