Mum’s appeal after man tries to rob son in park
A mother is appealing for better security at a Maidstone park after a man tried to rob her son on his way home from school.
Louisa Demery was shocked to hear her 13-year-old and his friends had been approached by a stranger while they were walking back from Maplesden Noakes.
The group of five boys were making their way through Millennium River Park at around 4pm on Tuesday of last week when the man came up to them and asked for their phones.
Mrs Demery, 36, said: “My son told the man he didn’t speak to strangers, but then the man said ‘If you don’t give me your phone I’ll punch your teeth out’.”
The boys walked away, but the man followed them out of the park, off Waterside Gate, and onto the Ringlestone estate where they live.
Mrs Demery said: “I had just got home with my younger son when the boys came running down the road to tell me what happened.
“I reported it to the police and have warned local schools as well. A lot of kids walk through that park every day.
“Something needs to be done about security in there, whether it’s more cameras or patrols. Next time a child might not be as lucky as my son was.”
Mrs Demery believes others have been targeted, having heard two girls were approached by a man of a similar description the same afternoon. She has also spoken to Helen Grant, MP for Maidstone and the Weald.
A spokesman for Maidstone Borough Council, which commissions CCTV in the borough, said a decision had been made to turn off the cameras in the park because an audit found they were in an area with “low levels of crime or antisocial behaviour”.
Police are appealing for help to identify the suspect, described as a thin man in his 30s or 40s, with tanned skin, short dark hair in a Mohican style, wearing a blue jacket and jeans.
Anyone with information should call police on 01622 604100 quoting reference 5-0905.