Woman arrested at school after staff thought she punched brother, 9, in face

12 March 2024 , 23:06

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Rebecca Riley, 28, and her little brother John (Image: SWNS)

A woman says she's received death threats after being wrongly accused of assaulting her younger brother outside his school.

Rebecca Riley, 28, was forced to move herself away from her family for several days while the Metropolitan Police carried out an investigation into the incident outside Ravensworth Primary in Mottingham, south London.

Teachers called the police, claiming that she had punched her nine-year-old brother, John, in the face, with her being hauled off into custody in front of dozens of parents there to pick up their kids.

However, Rebecca claims she was simply restraining her younger sibling, who has autism. She claims she had been taught to hold him in a certain way, "hugging him tightly and stroking him until he calmed down" after he started lashing out because he didn't want to go to school.

Within days, the Met had dropped the probe, citing "insufficient evidence", according to an email. But Rebecca says she hasn't seen the end of the incident and is still being ostracised by the local community, and is calling for a public apology.

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Rebecca, who cares for her younger siblings, told MyLondon: "I still feel really angry about it. That day was a nightmare. John was totally traumatised by it and so was I - and our mum.

Woman arrested at school after staff thought she punched brother, 9, in face

Rebecca said she employed a restraint technique that she'd been taught to soothe her brother, who had autism (SWNS)

She said it was humiliating being arrested in front of dozens of parents (SWNS)

"When they arrested me there were loads of parents there because of clubs after schools. It was horrible. I got death threats from parents and I was horribly bullied because of this.

"It made my life really difficult. I don't like to go out alone because of this. I can't believe they put me through all that because of a silly accusation that wasn't a bit true."

Rebecca was dropping John, now 10, off at school around 10am on June 9, 2023 when a teacher asked her to come inside, she claims. The teacher said they had seen Rebecca punch her brother in the face.

But Rebecca said she was restraining John, who has autism and didn't want to go into school, in a way she had been taught and used regularly at home. Rebecca found the police were at the school when she returned to collect John and another sibling at 3:30pm, she says.

She was arrested then bailed to a friend's house the following day, where she stayed for nine nights. An officer emailed to tell her the case had been dropped on June 11.

But Rebecca was too frightened of things people in the community were saying about her to go home, she said. Rebecca, who has eight brothers and sisters, said it was really hard being separated from her family. John is too traumatised by the incident to go back to school so is being home schooled for now.

Rebecca said: "John gets really upset and he isn't close to many people but he's really close to me. I look after him a lot. It was awful being separated from him - I texted mum all the time because I missed them so much. They weren't allowed near me or to speak to me.

"John doesn't like going to school and was hitting me. When that happens I hug him tightly and stroke him until he calms down. The police could see from the CCTV that I didn't hit him. I asked the school for an apology but they said they won't."

Rebecca was banned from the school's premises after being arrested. She appealed but a panel upheld the decision - meaning she still can't drop John at school.