Willem: MP to discuss police action

The MP had been offered a meeting with an Inspector but had insisted on a senior rank.

The meeting, which will also be attended by the 17-year-old Bexhill College student and his father, brings to a head a week which has seen one of Willem's attackers apologise to him on television.

Two weeks ago the 15-year-old's mother told in an Observer interview: "I know he wants a chance to apologise - not to justify what he has done but to explain."

But after Tuesday night's television interview she said she no longer wanted to talk about the affair because nothing she had said had helped the situation.

Meanwhile, the Rev Bill Haymaker says the television apology to his son was "not an act of contrition."

The 15-year-old is the only one of Willem's assailants who has so far apologised to him for injuries sustained in the October attack in Egerton Park.

The one aspect on which both parties agree is their claim that police have failed to bring all concerned in the attack to court.

Two other 15 year-olds who went to court and were also given Supervision Orders. The boy's mother told the Observer two weeks ago: "I am not excusing him but he and the two other boys were not the ringleaders."

The Rev Haymaker, a priest in the Anglican Independent Communion, told the Observer of his reaction after agreeing to the BBC request to meet Willem's assailant.

"The night prior to the BBC coming to interview Willem's assailant, I received a call from this boy's mother.

"I vigorously encouraged her not to go through with the interview, unless her son had made an honest and forthright effort to bring the truth to the police and openly admit his full participation, as well as the involvement of his other gang members, whom he named in his rap song. The fact he chose not to is the clearest indication of his sincerity.

"Watching the news, it was impossible to escape the boy's wanton hubris over the crimes he committed. He feebly attempted to pass off what he did by blaming it on alcohol. Yet, on his website, he clearly and concisely detailed his repeated strikes against my son and he vividly described his instructions to his other gang members, to violently attack an innocent person. And it is deeply disturbing to hear his sinister comment that he simply doesn't care what anyone in Bexhill thinks about his crimes.

"The rap song is not this one boy's compilation. There were actually three boys speaking. The first was the boy who appeared on the BBC. He chillingly described what he did and what others did upon his instruction.

"The second boy chanted about how he 'broke an innocent boy's nose,' and went on to detail the blood that splattered 'all over his clothes.'

"And he provided a reference to his involvement with 'tweedy' a 'Chav' reference to marijuana, along with his contempt for the school teachers who, over the years, have tried to offer him guidance.

"He celebrated the fact that girls were screaming at him to stop, and he was delighted that he had left Willem 'unconscious' for the police to come tend to him.

"The last boy, who states that he was not there, shows a degree of shock and revulsion, questioning the sanity of the boy who appeared on the BBC, and the conflict from his own mother, demanding that he look at the front page of the Bexhill Observer.

"It hasn't been intentional on anyone's part, but the term 'gang violence' has not been used in our local media. Sadly, this is precisely what this assault was. They repeatedly shouted out their gang name as they pummelled Willem into a bloody pulp. And if this senseless gratuitous violence isn't repugnant enough, a shiver ran through my body when the mother told me that the last person to kick Willem was a girl.

"Why had she done it? Merely for the sake of knowing what it felt like to kick an unconscious, defenceless human being in the face. She, too, has not been brought to justice.

"It was compelling viewing to listen to this boy's rationalisation that Willem's eyesight is fine, his breathing is fine, and the fracture to his eye-socket is fine, simply because he's able to 'walk' around school.

"I sincerely hope he himself never has to undergo septoplasty, ocular surgery, dental repair, or any other procedure that comes as a result of violence and cruelty.

"His mother has offered our community a plethora of excuses for his behaviour, beginning with blaming Bexhill for a lack of things for young people to do.

"Sadly, she continues to try to apologise for her son's behaviour. I have tried, in as nurturing a way as I know how, to explain to her that she owes us no apology. However, as a parent, I do openly encourage her to impress upon her son, the only way he can bring the trauma he has brought upon his mother, his brother, and his sister, and upon Willem and our community, to a resolution, is to be a forthright and participate with the police in bringing this matter to and end.

"If he does so, I will be the first to stand beside him to tell him that I'm proud of him for taking this initial step. And hopefully, we can find a way to salvage his young life, rather than allowing it to travel along this tragically predictable spiral of decline."