School failed to act on racism says mother of white victim

Henry Webster was repeatedly punched, kicked and hit with the sharp end of a claw hammer in an assault by the gang on the tennis courts at Ridgeway School in Wroughton, near Swindon, Wiltshire, in January 2007.

His mother Liz said the serious case review showed the school was responsible and claimed criticism of the local authority was "tantamount to a whitewash".

And she added: "The review doesn't mention what needs to be done to improve race relations in Swindon, which is an urgent concern considering the considerable increase in the vote for the BNP."

Her son had agreed to fight a boy "one on one" to end harassment which he thought he and his friends were experiencing and because of peer pressure.

But four boys pointed him out to three Asian men who arrived in cars, and six blows from a hammer left the teenager with a depressed skull fracture.

In 2008 seven young men were convicted of wounding with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm, with a further six men being convicted of conspiracy.

They were given custodial sentences ranging from eight years to eight months, with others receiving suspended sentences of up to 18 months. Four were pupils at the school.

"Whilst Henry has been the primary victim, we are and always have been of the firm belief that this school also let down the young Asian pupils who were eventually prosecuted for this attack," Mrs Webster said. "They have been criminalised and demonised – had their integration been properly handled we are certain this attack would not have happened."

Last year, Henry, of Beranburh Field, Wroughton, and his family, launched a High Court challenge claiming the school had been negligent, failed to maintain proper discipline and failed to deal with racial tension.

Their claims were rejected in February this year but following the High Court ruling, the Swindon Local Safeguarding Children Board commissioned a serious case review.

The executive summary, published yesterday, found the school did not prepare for the arrival of a significant number of British Asian students in 2005.

Some incidents between white and British Asian pupils were not recognised as racist by the school and by dealing with these incidents itself, it missed the opportunity to gain a better understanding of what was actually going on.

Other agencies did not challenge the school's approach or its procedures.Three new headteachers at the school and the creation of a new Children's Services department at the council, may have led to lack of intervention to the May 2006 racist incident outside the school.

Mike Howard, independent chair of the Swindon LSCB, said: "I am sorry that what was already an extremely distressing experience was made worse by the lack of co-ordinated support they received from some agencies."