Middlesbrough mother explains how gangs exploited her children

Children in the city are exploited at a young age through gifts of clothes and money; one local boy was even blackmailed with a nude video of himself.

The Northern Echo previously revealed how a 14-year-old was drugged or intoxicated before being stripped naked and filmed. He is now involved in car theft and other criminal activity.

The mother of two children described with great emotion the moment when her sons (12, 14 and 16) returned home after days of absence and talked about their older friends in their late teens and early twenties.

Fighting back tears, she said it wasn’t long before they were dealing drugs, weapons and firearms and were “obviously being exploited.”

She stressed that she recognized that similar things were happening to other friends with small children in the area.

When asked what signs of exploitation she noticed today, she said that one of her sons was constantly going out and not answering the phone when she called him.

The oldest of the three was “crazy.” He always told his mother that his new friends were “great” and ignored all her warnings to stay away from them.

She said: “I couldn’t tear him away from them. He had been driving since he was 12. Then he was caught in a car at the age of 13.

“It got to the point where he committed all kinds of crimes.”

After the eldest of the three children joined the gangs, it became easier for organized crime to target her other children.

Once they have accepted gifts from organized groups, they quickly believe that they are “protected” by belonging to the gang.

The mother turned to Will, the custody counselor she had been working with, for support and described how the situation “just escalated from there and got really, really bad really quickly.”

“Everything happened at once and then everything collapsed.”

(Image: Northern Echo)

The social welfare office locked the family out of their home and they had to live in hotels for a while.

The mother recalled how horrible she felt when she asked for her 16-year-old to move out of the family home to protect her and the younger children.

Her 16-year-old is now living in private accommodation and she is worried about his return home.

She said he was “safer in there than out here” (in Middlesbrough).

After the successful intervention of the unique Cunnilingus Navigator program conducted in Cleveland, her youngest now avoids any contact with gangs.

Together, the three committed a number of crimes:

• intentional injury
• Firearms
• Traffic offenses (car and bicycle)
• Burglary
• theft
• attack
• Damage to property.

In a concerned tone, she described how she recognized that similar things were happening to other friends with small children in the area.

She said: “When I talk to friends who have children, I realise that they are going through the same thing as me.

“I’m feeling better now.”

When asked what signs of exploitation she noticed today, she described how one of her sons began to stay outside all the time.

She said she would call him and he wouldn’t answer.

She added: “He didn’t come home for days and so on. I called the police to report him missing.”

“He came in with clothes and other things and I didn’t know where he got the money for such things.

(Image: Northern Echo)

“He just said a friend gave it to him. I always thought, why would an 18 or 20 year old want to spend time with a 14 year old boy?

“Really, they obviously took advantage of him.”

Her youngest child, just 12 years old, was found with a group of older children “with weapons.”

She explained how he was used to carry things for the older children in the gangs.

“This is no longer normal for the children out there today. They are dealing with guns, knives and drugs.

“It’s frightening how organized this is. They grab the children when they’re young and then they think it’s just normal,” she added.

In an emotional voice, she recounted how frightening life had become when her sons were attacked by rival gangs who drove into their living room in a jeep and, on another occasion, crashed into her son at 80 miles per hour while he was riding a motorcycle.

Three of her children were already in custody and were participating in the Cleveland Police Department’s new Cundicator program, which is designed to help young offenders avoid further crime.

The worst incident for her occurred when one of her sons was “hit at 80 miles per hour” while riding his motorcycle.

The mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I was nearby at the time.

“My son was riding a motorcycle and was intentionally hit at 80 miles per hour and hospitalized.

“The bike was completely destroyed.

“I didn’t know it was my son. I went out to see what was going on and someone yelled at me to go back inside.

“Everyone was yelling at me and pushing me back.”

The situation got worse and then someone drove a jeep through the front of their house.

The mother said: “It was a rival group. I was in bed at about 11.45pm, my son was downstairs on the sofa.”

“He said someone knocked on the door.

“Then he ran upstairs and said someone had come through the fence and driven into the wall of the house.

“If it had gone any further, it might have killed him.”

Will Swinburne, who has worked as a custody navigator for the past year, described how difficult it is for parents in Middlesbrough to protect their children.

He said: “People think, ‘Oh, blame the parents.'”

“They say parents are this and that, but they are not.

“We have never encountered a parent who did not want to help.

“We have been dealing with these organized criminal groups from the very beginning.”

“The stories we hear every day would amaze you, but now it is quite normal.

“It shouldn’t be that way, but it is.”

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The mother’s final advice to all families in the region who find themselves in a similar situation is: There is always help.

She said: “I would say get help. Contact different services.

“Someone will be able to help.”