Mother facing court for pulling bullied daughter out of school (From Echo)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting ECHONEWS to 80360, or email us »
Mother facing court for pulling bullied daughter out of school
1:00pm Thursday 7th March 2013 in News Exclusive By David Trayner
A MOTHER has told how her daughter has become the victim of a terrifying cyber bullying campaign.
The 12-year old has received threatening texts, Facebook messages and anonymous Blackberry messages in a campaign lasting two years.
A Facebook page was even set up asking people to join if they ‘hate or dislike’ the young victim.
Now her mother is facing court after pulling her daughter out of Futures Community College in Southend for the second time, claiming nothing is being done to help her child.
The girl is said to have suffered a breakdown following the campaign and has been assaulted in the street.
Southend Council is prosecuting the girl’s distraught mother for pulling her out of school between September and December.
Her mother said: “I’m absolutely livid. I can’t believe they are taking me to court because I’m trying to protect my child from being bullied.
“It’s making her physically and mentally ill. I see her sobbing and screaming and having panic attacks.
“How could you send a child to school in that state?”
Comments are closed on this article.
Comments (67)
1:04pm Thu 7 Mar 13
perini says...
1:05pm Thu 7 Mar 13
mys842 says...
I'm not surprised at her mother's upset, as a father I'd be livid if my child was bullied in this way and nothing was being done to stop it.
1:11pm Thu 7 Mar 13
RobertFS says...
call the police
1:26pm Thu 7 Mar 13
supermadmax says...
As I doubt even the staff at Futures College would allow it to get this far if she was genuinely bullied to that extent.
Id be interested to hear their thoughts, perhaps you could bother to call the school & ask for their version echo ?
1:31pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Rochford Rob says...
Sorted.
1:37pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Carnabackable says...
1:44pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Carnabackable says...
1:46pm Thu 7 Mar 13
mys842 says...
1:48pm Thu 7 Mar 13
fkf234 says...
Sounds like a lame excuse to keep her daughter off school and prevent herself from getting into problems with the authorities to me
1:52pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Carnabackable says...
1:53pm Thu 7 Mar 13
stopmoaning1 says...
I would find it hard to believe the school had not engaged with the mother and pupil to try and resolve the issue before it got this far but hey, I don’t know.
1:53pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Sean4u says...
1:55pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Carnabackable says...
1:58pm Thu 7 Mar 13
iknowbetter says...
2:00pm Thu 7 Mar 13
JuliaM says...
2:03pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Carnabackable says...
I can see many here...
2:05pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
There, they have school social workers, who can be called on by the parents, a teacher, or the child themselves, whenever there is a problem.
These social workers work closely with the families of BOTH parties, in the case of bullying.
Also with the teachers and with the children themselves, to try and sort out the issues and come to an understanding which is accepted by all parties, and they are usually very, very successful in achieving this.
lf there is criminal activity involved they have access to the police commissioner and will work closely with them also.
2:08pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Sean4u says...
npost.ca/2011/08/09/
rim-blackberry-riots
_n_922577.html
http://www.aljazeera
.com/news/middleeast
/2010/10/20101082011
36732648.html
http://www.theregist
er.co.uk/2012/11/08/
blackberry_10_fips/
Where have I erred?
2:28pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Rouge9 says...
2:34pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Cosmo Spring says...
3:08pm Thu 7 Mar 13
I hate the police says...
3:10pm Thu 7 Mar 13
exAkela says...
3:23pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Daisymouse75 says...
3:25pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Daisymouse75 says...
3:37pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Red Under Your Bed says...
3:52pm Thu 7 Mar 13
stopmoaning1 says...
3:55pm Thu 7 Mar 13
kyleigh92 says...
3:56pm Thu 7 Mar 13
stopmoaning1 says...
It’s quite obvious really.
4:14pm Thu 7 Mar 13
perini says...
4:18pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Rochford Rob says...
Turn them all off.
Plus, what ever happended to 'sticks & stones' ???
Had the silly woman gone to the authorities long ago when it all started it could have been nipped in the bud. No one is anonymous on the web. Everyone leaves a trail.
I suspect there's more to this than meets the eye.
4:33pm Thu 7 Mar 13
myfriend101 says...
4:36pm Thu 7 Mar 13
reptile says...
4:42pm Thu 7 Mar 13
bob7 says...
6:10pm Thu 7 Mar 13
whataday says...
From reading the article it would appear the council is adding to the bullying problem by colluding with the offenders.
7:05pm Thu 7 Mar 13
_champagne2 says...
9:28pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Democrat says...
http://ceop.police.u
k/safety-centre/
Every parent should read this.
10:12pm Thu 7 Mar 13
woolstone says...
10:15pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Steve H says...
10:18pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Steve H says...
11:17pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Jilly from Leigh says...
7:29am Fri 8 Mar 13
Rochford Rob says...
Back to topic. Cyber bulliying is only bullying if you are so stupid that you are aware of it and still allow your child access to whatever is upsetting them in the first place.
8:40am Fri 8 Mar 13
InTheKnowOk says...
8:45am Fri 8 Mar 13
InTheKnowOk says...
They caught that dude who wrote racist remarks on FB a while back so i can't see the problem here?
8:52am Fri 8 Mar 13
InTheKnowOk says...
You're not a kid are you? .. Just wondering like??
10:04am Fri 8 Mar 13
supermadmax says...
Firstly the bullying part of this is not a criminal case.
Secondly even if it was the police would have to establish if this case warranted the cost (of even a few thousand pound) to go the trouble.
In the unlikely event they do, they would need to petition the high court, to have the IP information released by the ISP & the media outlet (ie facebook), even then they will only give the area ie southend. + all this takes months.
Company's will not give out IP information for fear of being sued under the data protection, privacy laws or similar. Regardless of where in the world they are based.
The dude you refer to was only arrested & prosecuted because he did it via his own account AND admitted it when questioned.
If he had said his account was hacked & denied it, he would have got off due to lack of evidence.
10:53am Fri 8 Mar 13
Thewarguy says...
Say you are home tutoring, you do not have to follow the national curriculum, and your child does NOT have to stay in the house during school hours.
11:38am Fri 8 Mar 13
Noteworthy says...
The report does not mention that bullying took place on school premeses. Can the school do much other than talk to those involved?
And if the bullying is cyber - the girl has received threats on text, on blackberry messenger and facebook. Firstly - change numbers, restrict access. Second, why does a 12-year-old need their own phone, and I thought the Facebook access was for 16+? Shut these avenues and what can they do?
It's the old adiage - if you ignore them, they get bored and move on. If you can't see the problem, it's the best form of ignoring.
The assualt - was this reported to the police?
Children should not have access to all this kind of stuff. I don't condone bullying at all - I had quite a bit of physical bullying when I was younger - but making it easy doesn't help.
I hope this problem can be sorted, but without hearing the other side of the story (from the school - did they do anything, even silence speaks volumes), it's impossible to say what will happen.
5:08pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Sensible of Leigh says...
5:53pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Luscious Linda says...
6:25pm Fri 8 Mar 13
watchfulk says...
7:02pm Fri 8 Mar 13
asbo in a coma says...
don't you have to be 13 to have a facebook account?
7:33pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
AND you make it sound as if it is the girl`s fault, or do you LIKE BULLIES?
7:37pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
A. WHY should she be in trouble with the school authorities??
And WHAT has the fact that she was in primary school got to do with anything?
And how do you KNOW that the mother didn`t take action, YOU DON`T, and the only people who SHOULD be in trouble are the bullies themselves!
7:40pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
7:46pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
7:53pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
Pity we don`t have a similar system in this country.
8:56pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Almeda11 says...
9:32pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Carnabackable says...
10:02pm Fri 8 Mar 13
Nebs says...
10:18pm Fri 8 Mar 13
asbo in a coma says...
pls pls pls like the asbo in a coma facebook page pls i beg you.
12:03am Sat 9 Mar 13
sensiblecitizen1 says...
I must stress that I do not condone bullying in any shape or form, but I happen to know of this family.
This is not the first time they have been taken to court for the kids not being present at school it happened at the junior school attended too. A year ago they were in court for failure to attend school.
The family are known for bullying people and many children at Futures were victims of this daughter and her violent behaviour. They stood up for themselves and now the table has turned.
I am aware of the school and can safely say that they deal with bullying in a very serious way and do not allow it to happen, this is an unfortunate negative report of a school that is doing all it can to prevent bullying.
My child received very nasty messages on facebook from this child and a friend of the family. I have been called names from the family and been a victim of vicious calls
If she was being bullied I would be the first to support this article, however I am afraid that knowing some of the background of this family that I do this is impossible for me.
10:54am Sat 9 Mar 13
Carnabackable says...
2:01pm Sat 9 Mar 13
Dd2013 says...
2:08pm Sat 9 Mar 13
Dd2013 says...
8:37pm Sat 9 Mar 13
InTheKnowOk says...
Pot .. Kettle ..
1:11am Mon 11 Mar 13
Dd2013 says...
4:55pm Wed 13 Mar 13
Ace1973 says...