The Bridge of the A14 at Trimley where rocks were thrown at passing traffic yesterday.
Felixstowe: Two eight-year-old boys threw objects from A14 bridge at 13 vehicles
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
4:51 PM
TWO eight-year-old boys have been identified as the culprits who threw objects at cars, lorries and an ambulance from a bridge on the A14 near Trimley St Mary.
A total of 13 vehicles had stones and rocks hurled at them on December 15 including the ambulance which had its windscreen cracked.
Detectives identified the youngsters yesterday and have spoken to both their families.
However, because of their ages the boys are below the age of criminal responsibility and will not be prosecuted, police have said.
Detective Superintendent Stuart Sedgwick, who has been leading an investigation into a number of similar incidents which have occurred on major trunk roads in the county, said: “We were shocked to discover that the incidents in Trimley St Mary on December 15 had been committed by boys of such a young age.
“We are confident that these two were responsible for the reported incidents from that day and we will now be working with the boys, their parents and the youth offending service to ensure the boys are educated about the dangers and consequences of their actions.”
Police and partners, including the county council, borough and district councils, Fire and Rescue Service, Ambulance Service and Highways Agency, are working together to deal with a number of incidents of objects being thrown from bridges over key routes in Suffolk and enquiries are ongoing.
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28 comments
It seems to me these days everybody is pinning the blame on everybody else. When I was growing up, my parents were neglectful alcoholics, I didn't end up in care because I was too scared to tell the social services the truth...and at 8 years old I was certainly not throwing bricks at cars! I probably learnt my sense of right and wrong in school, because 12 years ago when I was 8, that's what schools did. The parents can't shoulder 100% of the blame when plenty of other terrible parents have turned out offspring who knew right from wrong at a young age, the boys can't shoulder all the blame because it is the responsibility of the adults in their lives to teach them right from wrong (although doing it 13 times and seeing first hand the devastation is absolutely disgusting) and the schools can't shoulder all the blame because they are constantly getting funding cuts...so who should be prosecuted? It's my opinion that rules on what teachers can do to discipline students should be slightly relaxed (though not to the point of hitting, as that didn't happen when I was younger and as I've said, I turned out alright!) The parents should be fined and maybe take some parenting courses, and the boys should be punishedtaught in an acceptable manner until they learn right from wrong.
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emi7
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
@martha farquhar parenting advice from someone that chooses such a mature screen name lol. Although i do agree with your post.
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smudga
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
@ David Bradley, didn't realise it had been made into a tv show!
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Martha Farquhar
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
@pandagirl81 Thank you for stating the obvious that all kinds of families have kids who cause trouble. I did say they were 'probably paid for' but you are right, there are many families who don't care about where their children are playing or what they are doing. What also shocked me is the fact that the parents and the children are going to be educated by the youth offending service about the dangers of their actions. A good clip round the ear for the children and some jail time for the parents might remind them how to bring up their children in future without the need for education.
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Law Abiding Taxpayer
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
What's wrong with educating the kids? We are not told the full story so the parents are probably being closely monitored or have already been fined - we don't know. Fact is it will stop now and those kids parents will live with the shame for a long time to come.
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Rusty Valentine
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
If they are committing crimes like this at 8 years old then what will happen when they are older, it's down to the parents to bring up children with respect for others and and instill some disipline in them, they obviously don't know right from wrong and what are 8 year olds doing out in the dark on their own in the 1st place!!
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NEWS ADDICT
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
In my view, at 8 years old, these children would not have been able to think through the potential consequences of what they were doing. They probably knew it was naughty, but I doubt they had any idea that it could, conceivably, be fatal. Now they have been caught, it is likely that they are very scared indeed. People are making a lot of assumptions here. We don't know the background, we don't know if this was a one-off incident or if they have a history of other actions. From what I can recall, it happened at about 4.30pm. Although, personally, I would have expected an 8 year to be at home at that time, given it would be dark, it's not as if they were out running wild at midnight. Yes, it is serious. Yes, the parents and the children should be questioned and investigated. But at this stage to speak of them as "monsters", "little thugs" and "little bleeders" is, in my view, excessive. Let's add a little balance to this and wait to see exactly what the circumstances were, or are we regressing back to hanging children or deporting them?
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longtimelocal
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Something needs to be done to these children as an example to the rest of the country. As suggested by hopalong, the others may follow if they know nothing is going to happen to them if they get caught under a certain age. They should learn that this is not the way to act in a civilised society and think on that it may have been their parents in the car they cause to crash - how would they feel then?
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AdeB
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Might be more helpful to ask Social Services to check out the reason these two 8 year olds were left playing near the road after dark. Indications of broken families, perhaps?
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Rolf
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The bill for police time, appeals and man hours spent on this case should be added up and the parents should be made to pay, this is the ONLY way two 8 year olds should be punished. A bill roughly 40-50k at a guess would make ANY parent look after their child properly.
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ima comedian
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Its so wrong to stereotype any person, so wether the parents worked for a living or claimed benefits its no excuse for their parenting skills! The fact was these "kids" did not realise the serious harm they could of caused by acting this way or maybe the fact they thought it was a "laugh" Its shamefull to think they never had the guidance in life at such a young age to know it was wrong. The only hope is that the parents get the help they need to raise decent adults in our community.
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mazgoodgirl
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Take them to see the victims of the crime and maybe that will shake them up enough to stop them doing such things in the future. Also locking the front door at home should be a deterent to keep them in at night too !!
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Nick Ward
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Absolutely outrageous! My husband was one of the lorry driver victims. What were 8 year olds doing on a Motorway bridge at 8am!!! The parents should be fined, prosecuted and declared to be neglectful parents. Somebody has to be accountable for this behaviour. Thankfully my husband lives to tell the tale. His windscreen was shattered when a brick was thrown off the bridge. He had to continue driving so as to ensure that a further collision did not happen. He pulled over on to the nearest lay-by and had to clear up the glass which shattered all over the dashboard, seating and bed in his lorry. The police have to deal with this behaviour more effectively - a simple rap on the knuckles is not enough to deter this kind of mindless behaviour.
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Nicola
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
I'm not convinced that an 8 year old is fully conversant with what an adult would consider to be right and wrong and i'm not convinced that the answer is to throw the parents in jail as seems to be the flavour of the month these days. 2 points: parenting is hard work: it always has been always will be, some parents find it easy (although not as easy as everyone commenting here obviously ;)) and other parents don't. Don't forget a lot of parents work now full time. Point 2: Children are still wonderful despite what most people think, and they still need to play, they might get up to things, but that's because they are children. Children are not adults, they are children! Used to get up to things myself when younger but now I am a responsible adult paying the exchequer more than i feel is fair every month.
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tonygee
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
I am sorry but these boys should be named and shamed. They knew what they were doing because they did it 13 times. There parents hopefully are appaled at what the boys have done. Our police force is hopeless. People have no confidence in them any more.
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biggles the pilot
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
@ Law abiding tax payer, it is very judgemental to presume these children are paid for by yourself. Ive met some fairly awful children from parents who both work long hours and do not rely on the state. The issue here is with parenting skills and I agree with Pepperpotty, if they are old enough to commit a crime like this with no regard for others lives then they need to be punished. This country is too wrapped up in childrens rights
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pandagirl81
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Eight year olds should not be playing out unsupervised-the parents should be prosecuted for failure to look after their children properly.
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Mary Mary
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
newspapers , media , smartphones , internet , its all a lovely way of finding out information but when children can find out about these things happening what do children do ?? there is always going to be some that want to copy what someone else has done . we find out to much information whatever happens in scotland a few minutes later or hours later the same thing could be happening down south , something new to try out .
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hopalong
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
This sort of headline makes you depair of what the future holds. We can only hope that children like this are in a small minority but really the parents have to shoulder the responsibility. Too often now, parents don't know what their chidren get up to and are happy to let them play violent computer games such as Grand Theft Auto where the roleplay is to commit crimes. They are often left to their own devices with little or no discipline at home and heaven forbid if a teacher should tell them off for bad behaviour! I'm afraid I have no answer as to how to fix our "broken society".
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Old Geezer
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Just let them off with some advice and educating.What a BIG JOKE. What about the poor people who was dramatized and luckerley not killed in this..
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david bradley
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
So if they are underage, presumably the parents will be liable to be fined and pay for the damage their offspring have caused?
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england1770
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
All parents should be made legally responsible for ALL aspects of parenting until their offspring attain the age of 18. What's legally required for a child's welfare should also be required for their bad behaviour.
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Sarky Sage
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
And don't forget that this happened in the evening when it was dark. Why on earth were 2 8 year old boys allowed out on their own in the dark?
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Pepperpotty
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The parents should be thrown in jail. God only knows what goes on in their homes. This is disgusting. What if these little thugs had killed someone? 8 is old enough to know right from wrong. It doesnt take much imagination to think how they will turn out later in life. Just look around Ipswich on a saturday night.
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Mr M
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Little bleeders.
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PC Plod
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Not only would I have the parent's prosecuted for their child's behaviour, I would also ask Social Services to look into why the parents think it is acceptable to allow 8 year old children to play on a major road in the first place. Another example of great parenting, probably paid for by myself and other decent hard working taxpayers!!
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Law Abiding Taxpayer
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Two eight year olds playing over the A14. Great parenting!
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Martha Farquhar
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
This is absolutely disgusting. If a child is old enough to commit a crime then they should be old enough to face being punished for it. This wasn't something that they did once and regretted. They did it 13 times! If they are not properly punished then they what is to stop them from breaking the law in the future? I dread to think what sort of adults these boys will grow up to be. I hope that the parents are proud of the little monsters that they have raised.
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Pepperpotty
Tuesday, January 10, 2012