Mum’s school CCTV plea after autistic son attacked

The mother of a young boy with complex needs has called for all special schools to have CCTV after her son was attacked by a teaching assistant.

Her 13-year-old son Tobie, from Wolverhampton, is autistic and non-speaking.

He was kicked, pushed and had his head held down in the 20 minute assault, and his mother Charlotte said a security camera had picked up the full extent of the attack.

“To see that man attack him in a place he thought was safe – it was just horrendous,” Charlotte said.

Tobie’s attacker, William Kevin Clifford, 61, pleaded guilty to child cruelty at Wolverhampton Crown Court earlier this month and was given a suspended sentence of nine months.

Warning: This story contains details of an attack that some readers may find distressing

The attack happened in the playground of Tettenhall Wood School in Wolverhampton, a special school where Tobie is a pupil.

The school said it had “followed all processes correctly” and that “children’s safety and wellbeing were always at the heart of everything we do.”

The footage is grainy but it is clear that Tobie was attacked repeatedly over the course of 20 minutes.

At one point Tobie tried to stand up and Clifford launched himself at the boy, pushing him down and forcing his face to the ground.

Tobie tried to crawl away but the teaching assistant followed him, and kneed him in the back as he was crouched behind a small gate in the playground.

Clifford’s court appearance was the first time Charlotte had seen the footage, despite her son being attacked in April 2023.

“I was devastated, I was horrified,” she said. “For the life of me I cannot understand what would make a person want to do that.”

Tobie had always loved school. The 13-year-old, who has a mental age of two, needs one-on-one support and Charlotte had always trusted the adults around him.

When she got the call from the school to say that her son had been harmed by a member of staff, she could not quite believe it.

“I had to ring the head teacher back. I thought it must have been a genuine mistake, but then she confirmed it again, that my child had been attacked.”

Tobie had come home that night agitated and distressed, but because he is non-speaking, he was unable to tell his mum what had happened.

Charlotte soon began to see the evidence. She had been told by the police to “body map” Tobie and found bruises and marks all over him.

“If that security camera had not picked it up, then we would never have known what had happened Tobie,’ Charlotte said.

“If this could happen in Tobie’s school, with a formidable team of staff, it can happen anywhere.”

Charlotte has no problems with the school, which she described as “excellent”. She believes that all education settings where there are vulnerable children should have CCTV in the corridors, in the classrooms and in the playground and that it should be kept for at least 12 months.

Currently, it is down to the individual school to decide whether it wants CCTV.

Campaigners in the past have taken a petition to the Scottish Parliament but their call to make surveillance mandatory was rejected over concerns about the balance between privacy and protection.

Beth Morrison, founder of Positive and Active Behaviour Support Scotland, supports more than 4,000 families across the UK – the majority have come to her because their child has come home from school with unexplained injuries.

She said CCTV would protect children with complex needs who were not able to tell their parents if something had happened to them.

“We are not calling for CCTV in all schools, only settings where there are vulnerable children,” she said.

“So many of our children can’t speak, they can’t tell us what happened. They’re not credible witnesses. If something has happened, there’s nothing, there’s no cameras, there’s no footage, no evidence.

“We cannot get justice without CCTV.”

The Association of School and College Leaders said that privacy and cost were among the issues schools had to consider and serious incidents like this were rare.

Charlotte said Tobie’s whole world had changed, and he struggled to trust anyone, but despite what happened, she said he was still “very resilient”.

“I’m so proud of him, he’s back in the same school, with his trusted adults – who I know and trust too. He’s doing so well, despite what that man did to him.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, help and support is available at BBC Action Line.