Policemanwho foundvictim lefthorror sitein tears

Martin Slack

A POLICEMAN who was first to discover the most seriously injured victim of the Edlington attacks has revealed he left the scene in tears after realising the true horror of the incident.

Sgt Richard Vernon, who leads a team in the former mining village, said he and his officers had just started work for the day when they were called out over the assaults.

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Speaking as he revisited the scene of the attacks, Sgt Vernon described how he had found the elder boy, semi-naked and covered in blood, on April 3 last year.

He said: “It just so happened that as I crossed a field, going down towards a stream, I heard the sound of a member of the public shout something, obviously in distress.

“He was on the other bank to me, and as I looked down, I could see the youngster, lying face down at the side of the river bank. We went down the respective bankings and went to attend to the young child.

“He looked terrible. I can honestly say that in the 22 years I have been in the job it is the most distressing thing I have ever dealt with, without a shadow of a doubt.

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“The child was in and out of consciousness, he had horrific injuries, basically he was in no position to speak at all and our main concern was to establish that he was alive and obviously to try and keep him warm.

“He had obviously been there some time, he was extremely cold. Myself and the member of the public took our coats off, I took my police coat off and protective vest and basically covered him up, covered his legs up and tried to keep him warm.

“We tried to keep him conscious, kept speaking to him, just pinching his ear to try and keep him awake basically. He did have some horrific injuries, and our main concern was to keep him alive.”

Sgt Vernon said he had requested the attendance of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance as soon as he had arrived and when he heard it approaching directed them to land close by in the field.

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He added: “It was very emotional, it hit me 15 to 20 minutes afterwards, the helicopter had landed and was attending to the child, and it was some time before they actually lifted, I just had 15 to 20 minutes on the bank to myself and obviously it hit home.

“It’s fair to say I left in tears, I don’t mind admitting that...You think of your own children and how you would react if it was yours.”