Mother's pleas to lock up brutal 14-year-old son

The 40-year-old mother-of-three told how her tearaway son had attacked her and her family, threatened her at knifepoint, and even arranged for a gang to lay siege to the family's Baberton home with baseball bats and golf clubs.

She said the boy – who cannot be identified – is already facing 18 police charges mainly for violence, has been suspended from school, and has a drug habit.

But despite admitting that neither she nor her husband can control him, reporting him to the police and pleading with council social workers to put him into secure accommodation, she claimed she was threatened with arrest if she did not take him back.

The mother, who was left disabled after a serious illness, said today she was at the end of her tether and chose to speak to the Evening News in a desperate bid for help.

"I've just had it, I can't look after him anymore, and I need to think of the family, who are terrified of him. I don't know what stage it might get to. I fear for my life and dread him coming back and wonder what he might do next.

"He's got a knife and he'll use it, he's threatened me and the kids with it.

"I've asked the social work almost daily to do something with him and all they say is that I should be looking after him."

The city council today confirmed the social work department was involved with the family, but said individual cases could not be discussed.

According to his mother, it has reached the stage where the boy is spending nights in council- funded accommodation, before returning home and getting into more trouble. She said she would no longer open the door to him now and was astonished when she was threatened with arrest.

"To be honest I couldn't believe it, but I don't care. I'm much more scared of him than I am of the police. I've never dealt with the police before, but spending the night in the cell can't be as bad as what we've had to put up with.

"The social workers said they'd have me charged with child abandonment, but I have to think of my other children."

Among his violent offences, she said, included kicking her down the stairs leaving her unconscious, beating his younger siblings and organising for a gang of youths to turn up at the family home with baseball bats and golf clubs.

She said the behaviour of her son, who is bright academically, began to change around four years ago when she was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.

"The other kids reacted to it differently. I almost died and he just went off the rails and it's been getting worse ever since.

"Even the police officers who have dealt with him have said he'll be straight to jail as soon as he's old enough.

"I don't know if there's any hope for him. He is a bright boy, but for me it's gone too far.

"He needs to be put into secure accommodation where he can't be a danger to anyone."

A spokesman for the city council said: "Our social work teams only get involved when the wellbeing of the child becomes an issue."