Commissioner Clarifies Pupil Spelling Mishap
Reports that a 10-year-old boy in Lancashire was questioned by police over a spelling mistake in his school work are being slammed by Lancashire's Police and Crime Commissioner.
The youngster and his family were visited by a neighbourhood officer and social worker at their home in December after concerns were raised by his school.
Commissioner Clive Grunshaw told Rock FM:
“The facts are that a young person disclosed a worrying issue in his school work - not just that he lived in a “terrorist house” - and this was reported through the appropriate channels and subsequently a visit was undertaken by a neighbourhood police officer and a social worker.
“This was not responded to as a terror incident.
“In the event there was no further action needed, but if the school and police had not acted then they would have been failing in their duty to respond to concerns.
He went on to condemn the way the story was covered by some media outlets saying:
“The media needs to take more responsibility when sensationalising issues to make stories much bigger than they are and to realise the impact they can have on local communities.
“The level of debate about this story is not warranted given the facts and misrepresents the role of all the agencies involved.”