I fear my son, 9, will become a killer Mum’s desperate bid to get help for boy who attacks her with cricket bat
A DISTRAUGHT mother is terrified her troubled son is destined to become a killer.
Tears stream down Caroline Lewis’s face as she cuddles Paulie and opens her heart about the autistic nine-year-old boy.
And i n an extraordinary admission the loving mum says: “It sounds terrible but without help I fear he’ll kill someone.”
Caroline, 50, has been target of most of his violent rages. He has repeatedly hit her with a cricket bat and threatened to kill her.
She is so scared of Paulie that she hides knives and scissors. But she knows he will use anything as a weapon against her.
His sudden outbursts often end with the confused lad begging Caroline to end his life.
Paulie’s tragic behaviour started early in his life. Aged just two he stabbed a kitten with a fork.
Doctors said he suffered from anxiety which he would grow out of. But at four he was diagnosed as autistic.
His wild behaviour at school led to him breaking a teacher’s thumb and trying to strangle other kids.
Other parents petitioned to have him expelled when he was four.
Last week Caroline reached near breaking point when Paulie was permanently excluded from Sir Martin Frobisher Academy in Clacton, Essex. Teachers said they could not cope. She now feels like a “prisoner” in her home having to cope with him alone.
Her isolation is intensified by what she sees as a lack of help.
She has been pleading with her local authority to get him a place at a specialist boarding school for three years but is still waiting.
Paulie has been referred to the NHS’s Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) four times and two police officers have asked social services to help.
Psychopath
Caroline, who also has a daughter, 33, and son, 24, has been told by Essex County Council she must wait for an Education, Health and Care Plan to determine his special educational needs.
Sadly, Paulie is not alone. He is one of many vulnerable people who are seemingly being failed by society.
His plight is revealed as Phones 4 U Billionaire John Caudwell revealed he will be opening a centre to help autism sufferers who are not receiving care on the NHS.
Children and adults who have the condition face a postcode lottery with some areas offering better care than others. Caroline said: “My son is tomorrow’s psychopath. Psychopaths are without any empathy and are violent and that’s him. He can’t understand other people.
“If he doesn’t get intensive specialist help he will kill someone.
“His behaviour log from school showed after every violent incident he has said he’s going to bring a knife in to stab the headmistress or the child or teacher he was angry with. He had also said he would like to get a gun and shoot everyone in school.”
She said: “It’s not his fault. When I tell him or show him what he has done he just says ‘why’ and ‘how’. If something doesn’t change then I 100 per cent know what’s going to happen in the future. It will be Broadmoor.”
Sarah Lambert, head of policy at the National Autistic Society, said Paulie needs specialised and personalised support.
She said: “Many other families will recognise the long and stressful battle to get support.” She said its survey found 74 per cent of parents found it hard to get the educational support their child needs. A spokesman for Essex County Council said: “We are working to complete an assessment to establish this child’s educational needs, before finding the best available solution as soon as possible. We will continue to support the family in the interim.”
An NHS spokesman said it would be “inappropriate to make any statements regarding the care of individuals”.