Mum angry as teenagers who filmed attack avoid police action

A GROUP of teenagers who stood around filming on mobile phones as a schoolgirl was attacked will be ‘dealt with by their school,’ police have said.

Abbie McCarthy, 15, was left with a black eye, a split lip and whiplash after being set upon in Tintern Park in Middleton.

Horrific footage showed Abbie being dragged along the ground by her hair while being kneed in the face by another girl.

Other teenagers stood around filming the attack on their mobile phones, before the footage, which the M.E.N. has chosen not to publish, was shared on social media.

Now police have confirmed that the girl who carried out the assault and her family are due to be spoken to next week.

The Youth Offending Service will then make a decision on how best to proceed.

But police will not take action against those who stood watching and filming the attack – and have said they will be ‘dealt with by their school.’

The decision has angered Abbie’s mum Carly, who says it will not help deter other young people from filming attacks in the future. Carly says her daughter knew members of the group, and said they ‘lured’ her to the park by phoning her and pretending they wanted to be her friend. She said: “They all videoed her being attacked, laughed at her injuries then shared it around social media, and they don’t even get a telling-off. “If this was an adult who had lured someone to a field and then got someone else to film them being attacked, everyone involved would be punished. “I don’t accept that because they are school age, that they just get off scot free. “Abbie has to live with this assault for the rest of her life, all the people there should have to too, or at least have it in their record. “These types of attacks will continue unless there is some kind of deterrent that says ‘if you engage in this type of behaviour then you will be punished’ and watch the attacks decline. “It’s absolutely absurd that this type of behaviour can continue. Next time it could be murder or suicide because the victim feels like there is no way out. “As a mother I need to protect children from these type of attacks.” Abbie McCarthy’s mum, Carly