Teens who attacked disabled woman 'gets police protection'

Last Friday Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk saw five teenagers go viral for pelting a disabled woman. Four of the youths were arrested and bailed out.

Daily Mail reported that the teens have since gotten police protection. Their families have been plagued with threats since a photo of the incident went viral on social media.

The gang of four boys, two aged 17 and two aged 15 (one is now 16), were accused of pelting a disabled woman with eggs and flour. Then they took a celebratory image which went viral on social media.

They’ve since asked the police for protection after getting threats. The image of the young men smiling and pointing at the vulnerable victim as she cowered on a park bench in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk has caused widespread revulsion.

For more on this story go to our Twitter account @amomama_usa. The four boys were arrested and bailed following Friday's incident in a park

‘I’ve reported the abuse to police and we are now under their protection. If anyone comes to our home to cause problems, we have a number we can call which will get the police here straight away.’

The mother of a suspect, Daily Mail, July 30, 2018

The boys cannot be identified because of their ages. However, five names, the four suspects and the boy who took the photo, were shared online.

One of boy’s is celebrating his 16th birthday and his mother said the scandal risked wrecking his party. 'We can’t say anything about what went on over the weekend but my son’s name has been leaked over the internet and we’ve had threats,’ she said.

She added about how the incident was affecting the boy’s party, ‘This isn’t what we need. It's my son’s 16th birthday and we’ve got family here for his party.’

The father of one of the other boys shared that he took the teen to the local police station to confess what he had done before grounding him indefinitely. According to the father, the boy was walking home from the center of Bury St Edmunds and had cut through the park when he saw two of his friends.

They apparently gestured for him to join them in the photo behind the woman who was covered in eggs and flour. The boy left shortly afterward but confessed to his parents when the image began circulating on social media hours later.

His father said: ‘He told me what he had done and I told him that it was an idiotic thing to do.’ Apparently, there’ve been death threats against the boy as his name was leaked on social media with his friends.

The stepmother of one of the 17-year-olds arrested said, ‘He got caught up in it all, it was a stupid thing to do.’ The teenager is said to be the one who took the photo and wasn’t involved in the pelting.

The victim, 49, who also is battling mental health problems, said she would be meeting with police. She said, 'I don't consider it acceptable but I don't particularly want to escalate the current tension in the area. I've got to be careful with how I deal with things obviously'.

Suffolk police said she was left severely distressed but was not physically harmed. People living in the area claimed that the youths in the photo were part of a group who has been terrorizing an estate in the Suffolk market town of Bury St Edmunds for weeks.

Social media star Robin Armstrong told his followers that he wanted to 'lead the way' in finding the youths. In a lengthy video, he spoke up against the teenagers.