Five suspects arrested in connection with what police say was a racially motivated attack on a 15-year-old black girl have been banned from Surrey, while officers have urged a further teenage suspect to turn herself in.
The attack, which took place outside Thomas Knyvett college in Ashford, has sent shock waves through the community and led to demands for an inquiry by MPs.
Ch Insp Dallas McDermott of Surrey police described the incident as disturbing and spoke of his disappointment at the reaction of people who watched the attack.
Footage shared widely online showed the 15-year-old being hit and kicked by several young people outside the school, who appeared to be egged on by adults.
Four people were arrested on Thursday on suspicion of attempted racially aggravated grievous bodily harm (GBH) – a 39-year-old woman, a 16-year-old girl, and two 11-year-old girls.
The 39-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man were also arrested on suspicion of child neglect and intentionally encouraging and assisting the commission of an indictable-only offence. The 16-year-old girl was also arrested on suspicion of malicious communications.
The MP Janet Daby raised the “incredibly serious incident” in parliament and tabled a letter signed by a cross-party group of MPs “to seek assurances on the welfare of the child victim, the police investigation, and safeguarding practices in schools”.
The suspects were released under “stringent bail conditions”, Surrey police said, which includes not entering the county. A further 15-year-old suspect has been told to hand herself in.
McDermott told PA agency: “Straight away when I was watching it, I was extremely shocked to see the level of violence that was used and the number of offenders that also targeted this girl – really shocking to see.
“I’ve said that [I’ve had] 23 years in the police, and as a police officer to watch that is disturbing, not just as a father.
“So I can understand how shocked, how angry, not just the local community are but the wider community to see such a vicious attack.”
He added: “There’s a certain threshold we need to get to to get evidence and get charges.
“Unfortunately we weren’t quite there yet. There’s some key pieces of evidence that we need to present to the Crown Prosecution Service so we’re doing that as swiftly as we can.
“We can’t just rely on the video for evidence in this case.
“We’ve had to release [the suspects] on bail but they’ve been given some stringent bail conditions and one of those conditions is that they can’t enter Surrey.”
