Police ‘took eight hours to respond’ after boy was threatened with knife

Schoolboy Brandon Andrews was left “shaking with fear” after the knife was held to his throat by a stranger in the street, according to his mother Donna.

The incident happened just days after killer Hannah Bonser, 26, was jailed for life for stabbing 15-year-old Casey Kearney to death just a few miles from where Brandon was attacked.

Mrs Andrews claimed South Yorkshire Police, which covers the area where both attacks took place, ignored her emergency call for more than eight hours.

The mother-of-five added: “Brandon is petrified and has hardly slept because he was so scared by what happened.

“I think it’s disgusting that it took so long to come and see us when this man could have been approaching other people with a knife.”

Mrs Andrews said Brandon was sitting with friends on a wall near his home in Kimberworth Park, Rotherham, when a middle-aged man approached and threatened them with a knife.

He then held the blade to Brandon’s throat before the terrified youngster managed to run off and tell his father Dave. The incident happened at 2pm but it wasn’t until 10pm the same day that police arrived.

Mrs Andrews said she believed the knifeman had been looking for a gang of teenagers he had been chasing and it was a case of mistaken identity.

She added: “Dave rang 999 after it happened but 40 minutes later we had a call saying they had nobody available and they would come out later because they were busy.

“Two officers finally turned up at 10.20pm to speak to us. When I asked what had taken so long the female officer asked:’What do you expect us to do?”

South Yorkshire Police confirmed that a man was arrested on Monday in connection with the incident and they are investigating the family’s complaint.

Hannah Bonser was jailed for a minimum of 22 years at Sheffield Crown Court on July 11 after being found guilty of murdering Casey Kearney in Elmfield Park, Doncaster.