BB FANS

Press Association
Monday May 1, 2006

A Dorset woman spent a night in jail after standing up to rowdy teenagers causing havoc in her garden, she said today.

Brenda Robinson, 66, is accused of hitting an 11-year-old boy and dragging a 13-year-old girl by the hair to get her out of her Bournemouth garden.

She said some boys had been kicking a ball against her car and she asked them to stop but was given a tirade of verbal abuse in front of her two grandchildren.

A gang of around eight teenagers then appeared in her garden, on April 21, armed with pieces of wood and one of the girls allegedly hit her daughter-in-law Angie Laundon.

The church-going grandmother then evicted the girls from her garden. She was taken off to the police station shortly afterwards.

"All hell broke loose. I was really frightened. I don't have stand-up fights on a regular basis," said Mrs Robinson, a former administration officer for the NHS emergency bed service at Poole hospital.

She said her night in the cells was "awful" and "claustrophobic". "Nobody came in to see if I was all right. I suppose they just don't care.

"By the time they did the interview, I had had no sleep, nothing to eat, just a glass of water. I was quite manic, virtually hysterical."

Mrs Robinson, who volunteers for her local church parent and toddler group, a child contact centre and the local creche, added: "I don't think the police dealt with it at all well. I'm hardly a menace to society."

The incident happened almost five years to the day after Mrs Launton's first husband was attacked and killed in Winton, near Bournemouth.

Clive Wilcox's attackers have never been caught. The couple had stopped to buy cigarettes in May 2001 when he was attacked, fell and hit his head on the pavement. He died the next day in hospital.

Mrs Robinson said: "Two days after my night in the cells an old man who lives five doors down was knocked to the floor and broke his nose.

"You stand up for yourself and you get a night in the cells, or you don't and you get a broken nose. That can't be right."

Mrs Robinson was released on bail and will find out tomorrow if she is to be charged with assault causing actual bodily harm on two youths

The laws a ass and most of the police are w@@@@rs

no excuse for hitting an 11 yr old. She won't be charged.

The 11 year old will sue for at least half a million pounds and the arch terrorist will get about 5 years

I have great confidence in our legal system

A grandmother arrested after taking action against rowdy youngsters outside her home will not be charged despite admitting she slapped one of them.

Brenda Robinson, 66, was accused of assaulting three youngsters outside her home in East Howe, Bournemouth, Dorset.

She spent a night in police cells after being arrested on 21 April.

Dorset Police said no futher action would be taken against Mrs Robinson, who admitted hitting a 10-year-old boy and dragging another away by the hair.

The church-going grandmother said she had asked a group of boys to stop kicking a ball into her garden and was given a tirade of verbal abuse in return.

The former NHS administration officer was later arrested on suspicion of assault causing actual bodily harm on three youths.

On Monday, Dorset Police confirmed the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) did not intend to pursue the matter.

A force spokesman said: "As the lady spent almost 15 hours in police custody, this formed part of the CPS's decision that it is not in the public interest for the case to be prosecuted."

He said that there was "insufficient evidence" relating to allegations that she had assaulted two girls in her garden.

Story from :
BBC NEWS
Published: 2006/05/15 19:19:37 GMT